from local reports
Practice Wednesday was special teams only, and honestly, there wasn't a lot of news coming out of it. Just a couple of notes:
* Head coach Jeff Fisher has already made Danny Amendola the primary punt returner. Other players trying out the role in camp are playing strictly to back Amendola up.
* No injury report Wednesday other than Darian Stewart missing practice due to a tight hamstring.
* Rookie free agent punter Johnny Hekker has a big leg as advertised, but is also very inconsistent on directional kicks, also as advertised.
Thursday will be a full-team, full-pads scrimmage, but won't be open to the public. Who will start the first fight of training camp? I'll take Harvey Dahl vs. the field. Cortland Finnegan might be a sleeper.
* Alumni report: former Ram blocking TE Billy Bajema signed with the Ravens.
* Bullet dodged: the best move the Rams made in the 2012, hands-down, is actually a move they didn't make: trading up for Justin Blackmon. What a pile of garbage that guy has turned out to be. He gets a DUI right after he gets drafted, and now, he's the only of this year's first-round picks still holding out. You have to be particularly obstinate to be a rookie holdout under the current CBA. The Rams took some character risks in this year's draft, and honestly, had Blackmon not gone 5th overall, he almost certainly would have been a Ram. Or, more likely, an unsigned draft pick of the Rams and a daily subject of this blog describing what a jerk he is. I expressed the fear while it looked like the Rams were going to get him, and it's now impossible not to think Michael Crabtree all over again with Blackmon. He's certainly matching Crabtree as a fakeass diva.
And that's just part of what looks like a complete meltdown in Jagwires camp. Maurice Jones-Drew is also holding out for a new deal. Marcedes Lewis got a big contract before last season, which he pretty much tanked, and reported for this year's training camp out of shape. Oh, and Jacksonville's biggest free-agent signing this year, Laurent Robinson? Dropping everything thrown at him. Lotsa luck this season, Blaine Gabbert. Shad Khan has got to be wondering what the hell he did to deserve this mess.
The Rams, meanwhile, should thank their lucky stars the draft fell the way it did. If Matt Barkley comes out, they probably couldn't have traded out of #2. And then the Bucs help them out by trading out of #5, which allows them to avoid the Blackmon trainwreck.
This franchise has been well overdue for that kind of luck; let's hope there's more like it on the way.
-$-
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