Free agency kicking Rams' asses: Mikell, Amendola, Hayes on way out

This will actually be official tomorrow, but the Rams are going to release veteran safety Quintin Mikell in another salary cap move. They will gain $3 million in cap room with the move, which by my reckoning now puts them $14 million under the cap.

Mikell had a fine season for the Rams in 2012, with 3 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and officially 93 tackles. The Rams' salary cap situation, though, did not favor paying a premium salary ($6 million) to a 33-year-old in-the-box safety, especially with this draft's safety class being a strong one. There's also the factor I've already mentioned that he's a Spagvaney guy, not a Fisher guy. I'd gladly welcome Quintin back for cheap, but expect he's headed elsewhere, so good luck. (Green Bay comes to mind.) One assumes Darian Stewart is at least going to get tendered as an RFA now, or Rodney McLeod's going to be the ONLY safety on the roster. The Mikell move leaves the I-thought-they-would-be-reloading-not-rebuilding Rams without both of last year's starting safeties, unless they re-sign Craig Dahl and send every St. Louis football fan screaming into the streets.

Speaking of which, the latest news is that Danny Amendola wants a deal similar to what Brian Hartline just got from the Dolphins, paying just over $6 million a year, which the Rams are reportedly unwilling to pay. You know, because Sam Bradford doesn't need any receivers to throw to or anything. That's another position where two of last year's starters will be gone, since the Rams aren't going to make any effort to bring back Brandon Gibson (not like he's that hard to catch). There's been a lot of noise about the Eagles wanting to get Danny back, and Miami's reportedly going to go after Gibson.

While discussing the wide receiver situation, Jim Thomas also reasons that William Hayes is going to get a lot more money than the Rams are going to be willing to pay for a #3 DE.

And there's little reason to expect Steven Jackson back, of course. Looks like the Rams' reward for going 7-8-1 last season is going to be a free agency near-apocalypse.

Les Snead better make like a magician with that $14 mil, or the Rams are going to suck ass in 2013. Unlike last year's free agency losses, most of which were addition by subtraction, there's a lot of guys getting away this year who still have game.

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