* Mostly good news so far as the Rams rookies break camp at Rams Park. Both Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson were signed to contracts Tuesday night. Johnson's contract terms have yet to be disclosed. Jenkins got a 4-year, $5 million deal, with $3.1 million guaranteed. No word yet if that is a lump sum payment or installment payments, which is what the Rams were going for. In any event, credit to the Rams front office for getting the whole rookie class in on time.
* Rodger Saffold tweeted Wednesday afternoon that he has been cleared to play without restrictions, so that's good news. The news is not as good on center Scott Wells, who had arthroscopic knee surgery in the offseason. Head coach Jeff Fisher says he'll take his time with Wells, so don't figure him to see much action early in training camp. That's completely sensible from an injury standpoint, but the Rams need Wells on the field before too awful long. He's key to this offense having any amount of cohesion this year. We need the starting offensive line practicing together as much as possible, and even more importantly, Wells and Sam Bradford practicing together as much as possible. Not only is it (obviously) critical for them to get the center-quarterback exchange down, but Wells is supposed to be responsible for line calls and pre-snap adjustments, which was one of Bradford's jobs last year. The Rams need Wells out there to make that transition seamless. If Tim Barnes is the backup at center like I'm thinking he is, that's a steep dropoff.
The Rams' offensive engine won't get too far in 2012 if the ignition is faulty; hopefully Wells is close to being full-go.
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