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Jason Babin signed his contrat with the Texans. He is the first first-rounder to sign. This should mean Jackson isn't to far behind, as Babin was picked just 3 picks behind Jackson. Hopefully this is good news for the Rams and we should get Jackson under contract before camp.
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Re: Babin signs
Jackson missed most of the team functions though, right? I wonder if that's going to impact when he signs his contract. Maybe the Rams will want to wait until after they see him a bit at camp before offering up their deal. -
Re: Babin signs
I do not think he will be able to join the club until after he signs a contract now. I think all the mini camps are done until Macomb. Players have to under contract before they join (insurance reasons I believe).Comment
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Re: Babin signs
:helmet: Excellent point RamW; as it stands now the Rams should be able to get Jackson signed in time for camp thanks to the slotting system. Getting to camp on time will be huge for Jackson as he was unable to attend at least one of the mini-camps because of rules. For him to see significant playing time this year he will need all of camp to learn the play book, know where he is supposed to be on each play and who he is responsible for on blocking assignments, blitz pickup etc.. If he can digest enough in camp and PROVE IT in pre-season games Martz will have the confidence to play him. If for some reason he does not get in on time (does anyone know who his agent is) he may not see much playing time until much later in the year.
GO RAMMS!!!!!!!!!!!Comment
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Re: Babin signs
The reason he missed most of the early functions was due to his college schedule. He still hadn't finished finals at OSU.Comment
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When did Steven Jackson make the Rams "brass" aware that he would not be ,actively, participating in "any Ram(deer) games" or practices without a new contract? Two weeks after the end of the '07 season? One month before the '08 preseason camp? The day before camp? The day that camp started?
Just curious.
RAM ON!-08-06-2008, 04:35 AM -
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer
MEQUON , Wis. – As the Rams prepare for their second plane ride of the preseason, they are once again doing it with a vacant seat where running back Steven Jackson was supposed to be.
Jackson missed Tuesday’s morning practice, the 16th workout of training camp he has missed. Those 16 sessions fall within a 12-day period of missed time resulting in a fine of $15,116 per day. That brings Jackson ’s total fines to a whopping $181,392.
“It will have to work itself out,” coach Scott Linehan said. “These things, there has never been a timetable. If you have a timetable you set yourself up for disappointment. I am going to be very pleased when it does happen. In the meantime, I will focus on the guys that are here and this Tennessee trip and it will all work out.”
More than any monetary losses, though, Jackson could be costing himself an opportunity to cash in during free agency sooner than later.
According to NFL rules, Jackson had to report to camp by Tuesday in order to maintain his accrued seasons. The rules states that a player must be in camp 30 days before the start of the regular season.
In this case, the season opener is Sept. 4 when Washington and the New York Giants square off.
Because Jackson has not reported and isn’t likely to arrive today, he could cost himself the opportunity to hit the market under the following possible but not necessarily probable scenario.
In May of this year, the owners decided to shorten the current collective bargaining agreement in hopes of negotiating a new deal in time for the 2011 season. Should no agreement be reached, the minimum requirement for unrestricted free agency would go from four years to six.
Jackson has been in the league four years and his contract would expire after this season were he to play it out. Assuming Jackson reports in the next few weeks, he would then need a contract extension to avoid the possibility that he could have to wait two years to become a free agent. Barring that, the Rams could simply slap the franchise tag on him for 2009 and he would be forced to accrue his fifth season then. With no agreement in place, the uncapped year of 2010 would be his sixth season and he would become a free agent after that season.
Even if he reported on Wednesday, he would still lose that year of accrued seniority. In other words, though he could in theory play five seasons in the NFL through this year, only four of them would count.
That would mean the 2009 season would actually count as his fifth season and he would have to complete that year and the 2010 season before he could hit the free agent market.
By the time 2010 would roll around, Jackson would be 27, which would put him on what would normally be the...-08-05-2008, 01:42 PM -
By Bryan Burwell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Friday, Jul. 25 2008
MEQUON, Wis. — There aren't that many perfect days in the life of a pro
football coach, but this was as close as it could get for Scott Linehan.
He had spent the past year suffering through the gawdawful nightmare of a 3-13
season, and waited seven exasperating months for the opportunity to purge any
memory of 2007 from his coaching resume. But here he was late Thursday
afternoon with an easy smile on his face. That misery had been exchanged, at
least momentarily, with the liberating feeling of a fresh new start to a
football season.
"I've been waiting for this day since the last game of the season," Linehan
said shortly after he and the Rams arrived at Concordia University on the eve
of summer training camp. So here he was in this little slice of football
heaven, cruising along in the parking lot just outside the team's dormitory
headquarters in his personal golf cart, feeling a cool breeze in his face, and
admiring an absolutely breathtaking view from a bluff overlooking clear blue
Lake Michigan.
There's no better day in a football coach's life than the start of the season
when the record is clean and the possibilities are endless. For Linehan, that
means a chance to rid the troublesome prefix of "embattled" from his name.
With a revamped coaching staff, a roster sprinkled with a few impressive
rookies, healthy veterans and wealthy free agents, Linehan believes the
organization has done enough to ensure that the history of that 3-13 train
wreck won't repeat itself.
"I remember standing on the sidelines during that last game with Arizona (a
48-19 loss)," Linehan said. "It was a tough season, a tough finish to a season,
and (defensive back) Todd Johnson walked up to me and said, 'You know we'll be
back. We're going to have a chance to show everyone that this is not an
indication of what kind of people we are, what kind of team we are.' I remember
thinking, 'Man I can't wait to actually show that.'"
That time has arrived, and you could see how anxious Linehan was for Friday
morning to arrive and to assemble all his players for that first 9:15 team
meeting that officially starts camp. The players' first official workout won't
be until a 4:20 p.m. practice. But there is a potential glitch lurking out
there, an unsettling little buzz that was circulating around Coburg Hall, the
players' dormitory, on Thursday evening.
Steven Jackson wasn't on the team charter to Wisconsin and hadn't arrived at
camp, and many of the players were privately concerned that the Pro Bowl
running back and most irreplaceable part of the offense...-07-25-2008, 04:24 AM -
By Bryan Burwell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Tuesday, Aug. 12 2008
Because Brett Favre is already taken, Manny Ramirez is busy cavorting in
Hollywood, and well, Michael Phelps is a little preoccupied right now with that
Olympic thing, the Rams are left with very few options in their quest to become
a viable entertainment-sports property in this city again.
The Rams need star quality in the worst way.
They need someone to ignite a spark, to make you want to care about them, talk
about them, to get an entire city fired up about them again.
What they need is Steven Jackson.
I saw that first preseason game against the Tennessee Titans, and it didn't
take me long to see how bad the Rams looked without the big man in their
offensive backfield. It just reinforced what I already believed in the first
place: With or without Jackson, the Rams could still be no better than 6-10. If
everything is perfect, they could get lucky and rise to 8-8.
But here's a painful truth that can't be ignored. This is a franchise in dire
need of star quality because without Jackson, they will not only be horrible,
they'll be frighteningly uninteresting and flirting dangerously with downright
insignificance in a fragile sports marketplace.
Already behind the championship-rich Cardinals in passionate fan interest,
another stinker of a season like last year's 3-13 mess could easily drop the
Rams behind both Mizzou and Illinois football and (gasp and swoon) maybe even
the NHL Blues for this sports-crazed city's late summer-early autumn devotion.
The smartest people in this organization know how close they are to stepping
even further over that fine line of lack of interest that we saw last season
when the fans abandoned the franchise in large, troubling numbers. By midseason
the home games became road games because visiting fans showed up in mobs of
more than 30,000, holding onto tickets they bought from Rams fans.
That's why it's just bad business for the team to prolong this contract
stalemate with Jackson any longer than it already has gone. So we're nearly
three weeks into the Jackson holdout and everyone on both sides of the
negotiating table has proved their points. General manager Jay Zygmunt has
proven his resolve not to negotiate with a holdout, and Jackson has proven that
he is equally stubborn because the closest he's gotten to the team's Mequon,
Wis., training camp has been via text messages to teammates and coaches.
But enough is enough. With four weeks left before the start of the regular
season, it's time for everyone to get rid of their stubbornness and find a way
to get Jackson into camp and signed as quickly as possible. At what point will...-08-12-2008, 04:34 AM -
MEQUON, Wis. — Barring what would be a totally unexpected appearance by Steven Jackson today at Rams training camp, the running back's continuing holdout will cost him a year of NFL seniority toward free agency.
Under a league rule, players under contract must report at least 30 days before the first regular season game or lose what's called an accrued season of seniority.
The Post-Dispatch originally reported last week that the deadline for Jackson to report would be Aug. 8 — this Friday — or 30 days before the Rams' season opener at Philadelphia, on Sept. 7.
But after further checking with the NFL office, the deadline to report is 30 days before the overall start of the NFL season. Because the Washington Redskins and New York Giants open the season on Sept. 4, a Thursday, the deadline for Jackson to report without losing credit is 30 days before that contest — today.
Jackson already has four years of NFL experience, which normally is the minimum seniority necessary to be eligible for unrestricted free agency. But if club owners void the current collective bargaining agreement, as is possible this fall, players would then need six years seniority to be eligible for free agency after the 2009 season.
If that's the case, the following doomsday situation could develop for Jackson:
— With no contract extension, Jackson plays out 2008 under the final year of his current deal.
— In 2009, he is given the franchise tag by the Rams.
— With only five years seniority in 2010, Jackson becomes a restricted free agent, and the Rams have matching rights on any outside offers he might receive from other teams.
Granted, those are a lot of "ifs" — all based on what appears to be the still unlikely possibility that the labor agreement is voided. Even so, Jackson at least potentially exposes himself to those risks by not reporting today.
But sources close to Jackson and his agent, Eugene Parker, say Jackson realized those potential consequences when deciding not to report to camp, and is prepared to deal with them if they arise.
Jackson missed his 11th day of camp Monday, encompassing 15 practices. With a fine of $15,166 for every day he misses, Jackson now is out $166,826.
Multiple sources confirmed Monday that there have been no negotiations between the Rams and Jackson's agent (Parker) since July 25 — the first day of training camp at Concordia University Wisconsin.
On that day, Parker informed the Rams that Jackson would not attend camp without a contract extension. The Rams countered by informing Parker that they would hold no further contract negotiations until Jackson reported to camp.
The stalemate is closing in on two weeks, with neither side flinching. Jackson has been in steady contact with several teammates as well as some Rams coaches through...-08-05-2008, 04:13 AM
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