Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Rams re-sign Kellen Clemens

In what I believe is the first re-signing of any of their unrestricted free agents from last season, the Rams have re-signed Kellen Clemens to a one-year contract, as tweeted by Jim Thomas.

While Rotoworld says the Rams will "have the most worrisome backup situation in the league if Clemens sticks," this is a smart signing for the Rams. Clemens picked up the Rams' system very quickly last year, and is already familiar with the new one, since he worked with offensive coordinator Kurt Schottenheimer with the Jets. He played better in last year's three-game audition than his statistics show. He showed good poise in the pocket, made good positions, didn't turn the ball over much at all, moved well and threw well on the move. His biggest problem I saw was lack of accuracy on longer passes. His numbers were bad otherwise because of bad receivers and bad pass protection. And even with that, he was a significant upgrade over A.J. Feeley. The Rams were within a TD of playoff teams twice with Clemens at QB; he doesn't have anything to apologize for.

Besides, the Rams don't need a QB good enough to push Bradford to start. They need a QB who can come into a game and (proverbially) "manage the offense". Clemens is a very good fit for the Rams' needs and their system. He'll be fine as the second-string QB.

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