Rams report, 8/3

The Rams have today off. They have a 1:50 practice open to the public tomorrow and I assume a closed morning practice. Tomorrow will also be the first practice day of the new NFL calendar, so all of the free agents the Rams have signed and re-signed should be participating for the first time.

* Transactions: The Rams front office deserves a day off as much as anybody, as they continued their free-agent shopping spree yesterday, signing LB Brady Poppinga and RB Jerious Norwood. And they may not be done, as rumors are picking up that Cadillac Williams is due for a drivethrough. Profiles of the new Rams free agents will pop up here if I ever get a chance to catch up.

Rookie free agent defensive tackle Arthur Thomas was released to make room for Poppinga on the 90-man roster. Someone else will have to be released to make room for Norwood.

* Injuries: biggest injury in camp now is Ron Bartell's ankle, which is described as mildly sprained. X-rays were negative. Justin King moves up to the first unit for now, though the fact he has actually made it this deep into training camp without getting injured himself has to be considered an upset.

Other excused absences: Mikail Baker (knee); Jabara Williams (knee). C'mon, seventh-rounders! Robert Quinn remains restricted to individual work. With no update on Darell Dorell Scott (hamstring), or Travon Bellamy (illness), I'm going to assume they've returned to the field.

* Ex-Rams watch: Marc Bulger announced his retirement from the NFL yesterday. Bulger won't make the Hall of Fame but sure leaves his mark all over the Rams' record books. He retires the team's all-time leader in completions and 2nd all-time in passing yards, completion % and passer rating (QBs with 1000 attempts). Bulger made the Pro Bowl in 2003 and 2006 and I believe holds the single-game passing record for the Rams in St. Louis (453). He was the fastest QB in league history to get to 1,000 completions. Laser-accurate QB who had the misfortune to get his deserved then-team-record contract at the same time the Rams offensive line began a rapid decline. Best of luck to Marc, and thanks for the memories.

In Mike Sando's blog entry about Bulger's retirement, I was certainly interested to see one Anthony Becht calling out the Rams organization at the time for letting the offensive line go to pot. Allow myself to quote myself:

RamView, November 23, 2008
"...Then Adewale Ogunleye steams up the middle untouched off a simple loop from LDE and kills Bulger dead for the rest of the day. This offensive line hasn’t had an answer for loops and stunts for a very long time now. The press is calling out Richie Incognito for missing the block, but I wouldn’t leave out Becht. They’ve started lining him up in the backfield right behind the guard precisely to prevent this kind of play, but he was late finding Ogunleye and was no help, as usual."

One of Bulger's concussions? Courtesy of Anthony Becht, who probably should try to find a different way to be remembered.

* Thing that definitely only matters to me: Vocabulary award to head coach Steve Spagnuolo, for remarking that Quinn is "champing at the bit to go". Very few people say that expression correctly; these days almost everyone says "chomp." The last person I heard say it correctly in public, funnily enough, was Mike Martz.

Champing at the bit to make more updates as news occurs...

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Rookie free agent profile: Randall Hunt, G, Illinois

Randall Hunt 6'6" 315
G, Illinois

Rankings: 28th-ranked guard by Pro Football Weekly. Graded as having a 50/50 chance to make an NFL roster or practice squad.

NFLDraftScout: 24th-ranked guard, #425 player overall, free-agent grade.

Consensus Draft Services projected Hunt as a 7th-round pick.







Biography/honors:
2010: Played in 13 games, starting 12. Also played in the 2011 East-West Shrine Game. Illini rushed for over 200 yards 7 times, 300 yards 4 times, and 519 yards vs. Northwestern. Illini led the Big Ten (Twelve) in rushing and were 11th in the nation with 246.1 yards per game. The Illini offense broke the school scoring record, finished 2nd in school history in rushing yards and 4th in total yards.
2009: Played in 12 games, started 11. Illini rushed for over 200 yards 6 times, 300 yards 3 times, with a high of 384 vs. Illinois State.
2008: Played in five games.
2007: Played in two games.
2006: Redshirted.

Major: Media studies.

Injuries: None reported.

Pro Day Stats: (not invited to NFL Combine)
5.41 40 (2011 Combine average for offensive linemen: 5.34)
1.79 10-yard split
4.81 short shuttle (4.74)
8.08 3-cone drill (bottom 10, average was 7.78)
25.5” vertical leap (bottom 10)
8'4” broad jump (middle of the pack)
33 bench presses (best at Combine was 34)

Positives: Good-sized, strong lineman who has a mean streak and blocks with violence. When he gets his hands on you it's all over. Uses hands well and has powerful lower body which makes him hard to move. Seal blocks well and has a terrific punch. Stonewalled second-round pick Marvin Austin a few times during the Shrine Game, the only lineman who looked respectable against Austin that whole game. He's also credited with shutting down first-round pick Phil Taylor in the Texas Bowl. Drew interest from several NFL teams.

Negatives: Heavy-legged waist-bender with slow feet. When defender gets a step, he can't adjust quickly enough and will get beaten badly. Needs to refine technique. Loses leverage when he blocks and makes himself easy to push around. Gets knocked backward off the snap too often. Marginal athlete with a limited upside.

Compares to: 2011 Steelers sixth-round pick Keith Williams.

Fun Facts: Hunt attended Valley Forge Military Academy, which has produced quite a few good NFL players, including Larry Fitzgerald, Jeff Otah, Julian Peterson and Chris Doleman. Though he's an o-lineman, Hunt's favorite athlete is Reggie White.

RamView: The Rams have added Harvey Dahl this offseason, but traded John Greco, so they can still use a road-grader guard with a mean streak. Hunt's got those qualities, and it's a bit of a surprise the Rams got him without using a draft pick. He played well at the Shrine Game, has held his own against some of the top defensive tackles in the draft, and his bench press performance would have been 2nd-best at the Combine. He blocked for a school-record-setting running game that was one of the best in the country last year. Rams did a good job on their homework when they signed Randall Hunt, who should have a very good chance to make the practice squad, just for starters.

Sources: Pro Football Weekly 2011 Draft Guide, NFLDraftScout.com, Illinois Athletics website, Consensus Draft Services, SBNation, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, CNNSI, ESPN

Photo: University of Illinois

Rams report, 8/2

from local reports

There is a 5 p.m. practice open to the public which I will guess is the only practice today. The Rams get one of their CBA-mandated days off in training camp tomorrow.

* Injuries: The Rams got through their first practice in pads yesterday with minimal trouble. The most serious, if that, thing sounds like DT Darell Scott's hamstring injury. LB Jabara Williams also had a minor knee injury. S Travon Bellamy sat out due to illness.

The big winner yesterday was dehydration and cramps, which got Brandon Gibson, Mardy Gilyard and James Hall, among others.

Robert Quinn still limited to individual work at last word.

* Transactions: Andrew Hawkins, released here after muffing a slew of punts the first day of practice, has been picked up by the Bengals.

Updates as they happen.

Photo: STLToday

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Quote of the day

"I can say I truly like this offense. I think the guys on the outside can really flourish in it, which would open up a whole lot for Steven (Jackson). I'm excited about it. If I was still playing with only one time to practice in training camp, I'd be real happy right now."

Isaac Bruce, on Josh McDaniels' offensive scheme

Rams report, 8/1

Players will be in pads for the first time today. There is an afternoon practice open to the public at 1:50 and I assume also a morning practice.

Isaac Bruce will be in camp today to work with the wide receivers.

Injuries: Robert Quinn limited due to a sprained knee. Chauncey Washington missed Saturday's practices due to illness but practiced on Sunday.

Transactions: it's still morning; nothing new yet. A clarification on the John Greco trade: the seventh-round pick is conditional on Greco's playing time, not whether or not he starts.

Brady Poppinga had a physical at Rams Park yesterday but left without signing a contract.

Justin Bannan's deal was for three years. Al Harris, Zach Diles, Mike Sims-Walker and Daniel Muir got one-year deals. Quintin Mikell and Harvey Dahl got four.

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Rams sign Daniel Muir

The Rams have addressed their depth concerns at defensive tackle, and then some, with this weekend's signing of Daniel Muir, who had been with the Colts. He gets a 1-year deal for $1.85 million.

Muir, 6'2" 312, turns 28 at the beginning of this season. He's entering his fifth year in the league and started for the Colts the last two seasons. His one-half career sack total will tell you he, like Justin Bannan, is here to be a run-stuffer. He had 52 tackles in 2009, 38 last season. He's got good size, is hard to move, is quick off the ball and reads plays and adjusts quickly. His play last season, though, was described more as rotational-player quality, and Pro Football Focus ranked him 77th at defensive tackle. He's not graded as a good tackler at his position. In fact, the Colts de-activated him the final two regular season games, though he did start in the playoffs.

Like with Mike Sims-Walker, this looks like a case of hoping the Rams signed the player from 2009, not 2010. RamView had rated Muir pretty highly, and I'll still call this a good signing, but I was thinking more of 2009 when I rated him. Again, though, if Muir can stiffen the Rams' spine at the goal line, he'll be worth the deal.

And I'd have to agree with assessments from the weekend that that's pretty much it for Gary Gibson's chances of re-signing here.

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Rams 2012 free agents

Rams who will become free agents of one kind or another after the 2011 season, according to Rotoworld.com:

Unrestricted: Donnie Avery, Billy Bajema, Na'il Diggs, A.J. Feeley, Donnie Jones, Bryan Kehl

Restricted: C.J. Ah You, Danny Amendola, Brit Miller, David Nixon

Exclusive Rights: Jermelle Cudjo, Dominique Curry, Darian Stewart

In an August 1st article on Steven Jackson, Jim Thomas mentions that his contract is voidable after the 2011 season. He has to have an average for the first four years of his contract of 1,200 rushing yards and 400 receiving yards, and he would attain those numbers this season with totals of 1,101 yards and has 516 yards receiving. Obviously Jackson is now the biggest name to watch where the Rams' next offseason is concerned.

But let's get Donnie Jones re-upped anyway.

Photo: STLToday