If a team's first job in free agency is to get its own players locked up, the news yesterday that unrestricted free agency will be restored to players with four years of service created extra work for Billy Devaney, Kevin Demoff and company. Besides trying to work out deals with WR Mark Clayton and OL Adam Goldberg, who have always had UFA status, they're now going to have to work out deals, should they choose to, with DT Gary Gibson and TE Daniel Fells. They'll be UFAs once the "old" rule is back. The Rams had previously tagged them with restricted free agent tags under the FA rules still in effect from 2010. My notes are a little murky, but I believe WR Laurent Robinson is another Ram who will become an outright UFA. The Rams did tender him in March.The fact that the Rams tendered Gibson, Fells or Robinson at all (they didn't tender other potential UFAs such as Cliff Ryan and Kenneth Darby) leads me to believe the Rams fully intend to make legitimate offers to bring them back in 2011, and they'll be among the front office's top priorities once free agency does open, along with Clayton and Goldberg.
Then they'll start choosing from the menus I'm about to unleash with my fairly-rushed free agent preview-palooza.
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