Traning camp headlines 7/29

One practice today at 3:50.

* Steven Jackson holdout day 5. Nothing brewing. Jackson's potential fine total is now up to $75,000, which would pretty much get you a top-of-the-line 2008 Corvette. Jim Thomas has a thorough article up this morning even though Jackson's agent Eugene Parker won't return his calls. Jackson has to report to camp by August 8th or he will lose a year toward becoming eligible for free agency. Thomas explains it all.

So let's see if Jackson holds out till that bitter end, by which point he'd tally up a total fine of $210,000. There have been no talks between Parker and Jay Zygmunt since Zygmunt demanded Jackson report to camp.

* Jackson offer $7M a year?
Thomas' article today also reveals the Rams have offered Jackson $7 million a season. Supposedly that places him among the top 4 backs in the NFL. Supposedly it would put Jackson behind only Clinton Portis, Larry Johnson and LaDainian Tomlinson, though that's not what I got out of my lengthy post on the subject yesterday.

A couple of things. Even I could figure out yesterday that $7M is less than the average of Reggie Bush's or Darren McFadden's contract, and Adrian Peterson is just under that mark. And as I said yesterday, when I suggested Jackson is probably worth $9 million a year (his numbers are as good as Johnson's, and it's laughable to pay him less than Portis, who averages just over $7M), it's dishonest not to include Shaun Alexander's contract when assessing the RB market. Not only is $7 mil not top-four money from Jackson's standpoint; how big a deal is $7 million when the current franchise tag is $6.5 million? Ooh, the Rams think Jackson is $half-a-million better than the sixth-best back in the league!

I also completely disagree with Thomas' contention that the offer "exceeds Jackson's production thus far in his NFL career". Thomas leaves out Jackson's receiving statistics, for one thing, and just suggests that Jackson's TD total is comparably low without accounting that the RBs he's being compared to have tended to be their team's only goal line weapons, or close to it. (Though trust me, as his FFL GM a couple of times, I can say Portis does NOT fit in that category.)

Get ready for whiplash here, because I'm on the verge of switching sides in this dispute.

Yes, Steven Jackson should get his ass in camp.

But yes, the Rams are lowballing him, even at $7M a year. If he signs a deal for that, the city ought to throw a parade for him, and he ought to fire his agent.

* Jackson offer four years?
Unless it's some kind of Freudian slip, Brian Burwell today seems to be suggesting that Jackson is after a - 4-year deal?

"You have to wonder why in the face of last year's 3-13 madness, management would do anything willingly that would pile on additional chaos to an otherwise upbeat offseason. Why not get the deal done now, lock him up for four years and be done with it?"

Really? Just four years? For Jackson, that's about the worst contract length I can think of. Jackson's negotiating leverage for the next contract, in 2012 when he's 29, is much worse than even 2011 when he's 28. The closer you are to 30, the worse your leverage is going to be. Over 30, forget it. I'd figure he'd look for a contract that would carry him into his lower 30's.

If they're going after a four-year deal, then this deal right here is going to be the biggest of Steven Jackson's career. No way do you do that in this market for $7M a year. If I'm Eugene Parker, and the Rams are offering a 4-year deal, I'm not even picking up the phone until the total deal gets up to $8M a year.

* Victor Adeyanju out with broken finger.
He has returned to St. Louis to have pins inserted into his broken middle finger. He's expected to be ready to go for the regular season with one of those cool big clubs on his hand. A broken middle finger, though, is really going to impact his ability to drive in the St. Louis area.

* Personnel moves.
The Rams have added 5'9" 170-lb CB Cortney Grixby - oh, great, another smurf - and 6'4", 327-lb OT Julius Wilson. Grixby helps pick up the slack with Fakhir Brown out injured, while Wilson, though he was cut by the Dolphins, who don't exactly have an offensive line feared around the league, is apparently so great the Rams actually sent the Turk out to the practice field to cut rookie FA Stephen Sene on the spot. Dude, that is harsh.

So we'll see what the Julius Wilson Era has in store.