FA preview: defensive backs

Ah, youth, 'tis a blessing and a curse. Had yours truly had more of it, maybe these free agency capsules would have been out a lot quicker (and been a lot better). There was no lack of youth in the Ram secondary last season. Too often, though, there was a lack of pass coverage. And even with all their youth, the Ram DBs were still frequent victims of the injury bug. That mitigating factor makes it very likely that the Rams are going to be comfortable bringing back most of last year's contingent. A veteran free agent here would mostly get in the way of a young player, so I'm not looking for the Rams to make much of a move for one.

So the DB rundown should go pretty quick.

Defensive backs

Rams current depth chart:

Corner: Ron Bartell, Bradley Fletcher, Justin King, Quincy Butler, Danny Gorrer, Jonathan Wade, Cord Parks, Marcus Brown

Safety: Free: Oshiomogho Atogwe, Craig Dahl, David Roach, Classy Eric Bassey
Strong: James Butler, Clinton Hart

Notes: The current CBA reverts Atogwe to restricted free agent status for 2010.
Bassey, Dahl and Wade are all standard RFAs. Hart is unrestricted.

Analysis: Bartell signed a long-term contract with the Rams after turning down a chance to join the Saints, and both sides of the transaction regretted their 2009 ROI. Bartell was one of the season's biggest disappointments. Some weeks it looked like he couldn't cover anybody at all. He got beaten deep far too often and kept Fakhir Brown's legacy alive with failures to turn his head to find the ball in the air. Heck, even Torry Holt had his way with Bartell last year. Since he was said to be playing most of the season with injuries, while still breaking up a fair share of passes, I'll give Bartell a mulligan, if a multi-million dollar one, for 2009. He sure played much better in 2008. Rookie Fletcher had taken over as the #2 CB by midseason, and was flashing some shutdown form until the Dome FieldTurf attempted to turn his knee into pop art during the Colts game. Let's hope his rehab stays ahead of schedule and he comes back 100%. As a virtual rookie, King made plenty of youthful mistakes, and his play could use a stronger physical edge, but he seems to be rounding into nice form at nickel. Quincy Butler at times showed nice range, big-play ability and willingness in run support. If he strengthens his physical play some more, the Rams could have quite a foursome. Wade spent 2009 in the new coaching staff's doghouse for reasons no one still can determine, and the Rams unsurprisingly let it out this morning that they're not bringing him back. And I'll stay puzzled. Wade's young, has speed, is a willing tackler; he should have been worth something around here. It was ridiculous that Gorrer spent any time ahead of Wade on the depth chart last year. He makes Tye Hill look like Aeneas Williams. It's embarrassing, and frankly, a bit disturbing, to still see him on the current Rams roster. It's highly embarrassing and deeply disturbing that Rams cornerbacks combined for ZERO interceptions last year. That's one less than Johnny Jolly, the Packers' 325-lb backup nose tackle! Pick off some passes next season, people!

Injuries plagued the whole Ram secondary. Oshiomogho Atogwe was back to his old tricks, forcing 5 turnovers through 11 games, but missed the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury. James Butler led the team with 3 INTs, but I make little secret of my opinion that he was awful and another big disappointment of the season, just ok in run support, bad in tackling, bad in coverage. I feel pretty sure he played more banged-up all season than anyone really let on, though, so here's another multi-million dollar mulligan. Dahl was fine in a backup role. Hart's a former Charger starter and might not be a bad bringback if he's not too expensive. Roach vs. Bassey could be a good training camp battle. Bassey's rebounding from a knee injury and Roach made some special teams plays.

Free agency

Top 5 UFA CBs: 1) Leigh Bodden 2) Dunta Robinson 3) Nick Harper 4) Brian Williams 5) Will James

Top 5 UFA safeties: 1) Darren Sharper 2) Ryan Clark 3) Bryan Scott 4) Mike Brown 5) John Wendling

Sleepers: Bryan Scott, Walt Harris, Rod Hood, Nathan Jones

Thanks, we'll get back to you: Ralph Brown, Tyrone Carter, Nick Ferguson, Vernon Fox, Corey Ivy, Todd Johnson, Sean Jones, Kevin Kaesviharn, Ty Law, Ken Lucas, Marquand Manuel, Hank Poteat, Pierson Prioleau, Mark Roman, Brian Russell, Benny Sapp, Deshea Townsend, Matt Ware, Dante Wesley

Gawd no: Dre Bly, Anthony Henry, Frank Walker, Jermaine Phillips, Roy Williams

Viewing the field: At corner, Bodden's phone should be ringing a lot come March 5th. He had five INTs and played 80% of the snaps in New England. He has great size and is just 28. I'm not sure Robinson's ever lived up to his rookie hype. (I blame his parents for not knowing how to spell "Dante".) He's got youth on his side at 27, though, and being all the way back from a torn ACL back in 2008, he should improve on his no-pick season last year. Age and injuries are catching up to Harper, who I think would help a secondary more as a steadying veteran influence. You wouldn't want to expose him to a lot of man-to-man. Williams has been very steady everywhere he's played and can step up as a #1 corner when a team needs him to. James flashed some big-play ability last season and has the Giants/Eagles pedigree that would make him attractive to the Rams' current leadership.

Sharper was the league's defensive MVP last season. Even at 34, it's surprising the Saints didn't franchise him. FS Clark had 3 INTs and 110 tackles in Pittsburgh last year and is the kind of hitter many secondaries need. Wendling made it in mostly for being only 26 and being one of the best players on Buffalo's excellent special teams units, and DO NOT get me started on who their coach was. 32-year-old Brown had a respectable 3 INTs and nearly 100 tackles in K.C. last year, and has actually survived two straight seasons now without a catastrophic injury. Betting on a third might be risky.

My interest in Scott, another former Bill, comes from him converting from safety to linebacker in midseason and coming away with 81 tackles, 2 sacks and an INT in only 9 games. At 28, he seems like a versatile player who would help a team's defensive depth. Harris is 35 and missed 2009 because of an ACL injury. Would be a shame if that ends his career, because few were playing better at the time when he was injured. The Rams flirted last offseason with the idea of signing Hood, who ended up playing only 4 games last year in Tennessee. He had three INTs and a TD return in those games, though, as a sub for Harper. Jones is another good special teamer, and he beat former first-round pick Jason Allen out in Miami at nickel, before getting beat out there by a couple of rookies himself.

You want your young players to learn from the veterans. In Dre Bly's case, I don't want our players learning how to get stripped from behind while showboating like an idiot 5 yards into an interception return and giving the ball back. Maybe it's bad luck, I don't know, but Henry and Walker have never looked remotely good in any game of theirs I have ever watched. I'm talking Danny Gorrer-bad. Jermaine Phillips was arrested in January on the oddly-specific charge of "domestic battery by strangulation". Not accused, arrested. And thanks to Roy Williams for inventing the horse-collar penalty. You can retire now. What, he's just 29?

RamView's move: I'm intrigued by Scott and think he'd be helpful here as linebacker and safety depth. I'd also make sure to keep Dahl for depth. I would have given Wade an honest shot at nickel in training camp. Hopefully the current players will change their play a lot instead of the front office having to change a lot of the players. They're close to being good in a lot of ways.

Prediction: If I had posted this last night, I could have bragged that I correctly predicted the Rams wouldn't even bother to make Wade a RFA offer. I think I see Jim Haslett in D.C. waving at Jonathan right now. Something I should have mentioned by now was how little help the secondary got last year from the pass rush. Optimistically, that will get better and help the DBs out. They'll improve by playing healthy, and that'll improve them by letting them play together as a unit. And by Gorrer going back to the Home Depot and never again setting foot on an NFL field. All the improvement coming without the front office really making a move.

Fingers crossed.