Rams sign Kyle Boller

Funny how things change: in 2003, I threatened to tape Mike Martz to a goal post for the widely circulating rumor that the Rams were planning to draft Cal QB Kyle Boller in the first round. Today, I'm pretty happy to have Boller aboard as the Rams' backup QB. The Rams signed him to a one-year contract over the weekend.

Sure, the biggest reason I like the Boller signing is that he isn't Gus Frerotte, but there are some other reasons to like the move. Boller's career QB rating of 71.9 tops what Marc Bulger did in 2007 or 2008. He's six years younger than Bulger (10 or 11 younger than Frerotte). Even coming off of shoulder surgery that cost him all of last season, he'll probably be the strongest arm on the team. His youth, tools, preparation and good locker room reputation, plus Bulger's last two seasons, should be more than enough to give Bulger the push he appears to need to return to something resembling competence at QB. At 27, Boller's about the age Bulger was when he took over here as a starter (and Bulger's about the age Kurt Warner was when he lost that starting job). He's the kind of young player that often benefits from a change of scenery and there's reason to like his promise here.

But Boller's career to date also raises plenty of doubt that he'll succeed at much of anything here in the long run other than coming off the bench, if that. He's not terribly durable, having missed chunks of past seasons with quad and turf toe injuries, not to mention all of last year with a torn labrum. That's hardly an improvement over Bulger. Thrown into the line of fire immediately as a rookie in Baltimore, Boller shows a lot of the shell-shocked quality in his play that we've seen from Bulger the last couple of years. His poor decision-making under pressure actually isn't much of an improvement over 2007 Frerotte. He could still use decent coaching on not locking on receivers, on looking off defenders, and his throwing accuracy, though improving, is average at best. He's looked most comfortable in quick-tempo, short-drop passing games, so don't look for him to be a field-stretching QB off the bench, and though he's more mobile than Bulger, if Marc gets pummelled off the field in his deep drop, don't expect much of a difference if Boller comes in.

The main benefit to having Kyle Boller in a Ram uniform is the chance he can be polished into a threat to Marc Bulger's starting job. Any chance is better than none, which is the threat the likes of a Gus Frerotte poses. Bulger's play the last couple of years has merited a search for viable alternatives on the Rams' part. If Boller pans out, he could be that alternative, or the bridge to a QB the Rams draft high in 2010.