Bulger, Carriker signed!

Exciting and good news from Rams Park that the team has signed
Marc Bulger to a richly-deserved contract extension and has also
gotten first-round pick Adam Carriker signed to a deal. stltoday.com article

Bulger's contract is 6 years, $63 million, which means I damn near nailed
it with my guess on Wednesday.

Sounds like I short-changed Carriker with my previous estimate, though.
With Marshawn Lynch getting $19M at #12 and Lawrence Timmons getting
$15M at #15, Adam's probably in the $17.5M neighborhood, vs. my guess
of $14M. All we know right now is that it's a 5-year deal. Adam has agreed
to it but hasn't signed it, so he's missing the first day of camp. Looks like
I'll get to see his camp debut tomorrow.

Great work by the Rams front office, getting everyone in camp essentially
on time, and getting Bulger locked up with a contract that's reasonable in
the current market without breaking the bank.

Zygmunt: Bulger priority #1

Jay Zygmunt wisely identifies signing Marc Bulger to a contract extension
as the front office's #1 priority right now: stltoday.com article

Well, wait: what about signing Adam Carriker?

Anyway, the article mentions that the Rams have offered Bulger, currently
the 11th-highest paid QB in the league, a contract that would make him
one of the highest-paid QBs in the league and the highest-paid Ram ever.

Any way you slice it, the distinction of highest-paid Ram ever currently
belongs to Orlando Pace. The 7-year, $53 million contract he's on right
now is the largest total Ram contract I'm aware of. His $6 million base salary
in 2004 is the largest in team history, as was his total salary of $18M
in 2005, which included $15M+ in bonuses.

Using the recent 6-year/$60M deals for both Tom Brady and Drew Brees,
I figure Marc'll average no worse than $10M a year over his deal, and his
agent wouldn't be crazy to ask for $12M. Bulger's age, 30, is important, too,
with regards to the length of the contract. He'd probably want 6-7 years.

This would be a big jump over Pace, but the salary cap has really ballooned,
too: the Rams and Bulger ought to be able to agree on a contract in the
six-year, $mid-sixties range. If things break down, that's the gauge I'm
going to use to decide if the Rams are being cheap or Bulger's being greedy.

Brian Leonard signs

The Rams have signed RB Brian Leonard to a 4-year contract.
stltoday.com article

With Stephen Davis gone, Leonard plays a critical role for the Rams as
a back who can keep bashing the defense while giving Steven Jackson
some rest. As with Jackson, I think Leonard is initially going to surprise
a lot of defenders with his speed as well. Good that he'll be in camp
on time.

The article also mentions that the team is meeting with Adam Carriker's
representatives today, so hopefully that deal is close to getting done as well.

Re-estimating the Carriker contract

As a handful of 2007 first-rounders are signed, and the Rams, in sheeplike fashion,
wait for the picks around Adam Carriker to be signed, I see that my first estimate
of his contract is off by a country mile. Turns out Kamerion Wimbley's contract is
much different than most rookie contracts and is a very bad one to use as a baseline.

Let's use Haloti Ngata's, then, with the additional bonus that he's a DT just like
Carriker. He signed a 5-year, $11.9 million contract last year, with about $9.3M
guaranteed. Three picks later, Tye Hill came in at 5 years, $10.2M, $7.7M guaranteed.

Enter this year's #15 pick, Lawrence Timmons, signed by the Steelers, who have all
their picks in camp on time. CBS Sportsline reports he's getting 8% more bonus money
and 19% more total contract money than Hill.

Assuming it's a 5-year contract, then, Carriker's probably looking at a contract in the
neighborhood of $14M total, $10M guaranteed.

Let's quit screwing around, make it happen, and get the man in camp.

Training camp reports

I'm hoping to hit training camp on the following dates:

Sat. 7/28 - 3:00
Sun. 7/29 - 9:20
Fri. 8/3 - 3:00
Sun. 8/12 - 3:00

I think the best day to be at training camp will be for the
intrasquad scrimmage on 8/4, but I unfortunately have a
prior commitment that day.

All contingent on weather, my ability to drag my carcass
out of bed, etc.

Rams sign more draft picks

A busy weekend in Rams news includes the signing of the rest of the day 2
draft picks: Dustin Fry, Clint Ryan and Ken Shackleford. That leaves the
top two picks, Adam Carriker and Brian Leonard. Let me say right now, if the
Rams screw around and wait for Buffalo to sign Marshawn Lynch (#12) and
the Jets to sign Darrelle Revis (#14) so they can make Carriker an offer,
they're doing him and the team a great disservice. The Rams HAVE to hit
the ground running with Carriker, and that starts with having him in camp on time.

Ryan has a legitimate shot at a roster spot behind Carriker, while the Rams'
offensive line looks deep enough for Fry and Shackleford to both end up on
on the practice squad. The problem is, if another team swipes them off the
Rams' practice squad, the Rams have basically wasted a draft pick. Might be
best to keep at least Fry on the main roster, though the Fakhir Brown suspension
tightens up the roster by forcing the Rams to keep a DB around whom they
might not otherwise.

Fakhir Brown suspended 4 weeks; 2 for Wroten?

CB Fakhir Brown got a four-game suspension from the league over the weekend
for an unspecified violation of the substance abuse policy. (My guess: weed.)
Assuming his appeal fails, the pressure will be on Tye Hill and partner to contain
Steve Smith week 1, Darrell Jackson week 2, Joey Galloway week 3, and oh crap,
T.O. and Terry Glenn week 4. Throwing in Jason Witten makes week 4 look like
an awful good week to start Tony Romo in your fantasy league.

None of those first three WRs are size guys, though, and I think Tye Hill can handle
them. No, he's not going to hold Steve Smith to 2 catches for 20 yards, but neither
should he give up 9 catches, 180 yards, 3 TDs. A positive of the Brown suspension
is the potential for it to become Tye's moment to shine.

Same for Ron Bartell, who'd certainly be a candidate for #2 CB the first four weeks.
My guess, though, knowing Jim Haslett's affinity for veterans, is that Lenny Walls
gets most of the snaps and is the Opening Day starter, with Bartell as the nickel.
That's not the best combination they can throw out there, thanks to Brown's
off-field stupidity, but they don't necessarily have to get shelled for 350 yards a
week, either. Though I'm dreading Dallas.

On the topic of suspensions, I can't believe Claude Wroten or Dominique Byrd would
be looking at any worse than two weeks from the commissioner's office, in light of
Sam Brandon getting 2 for domestic violence, which is worse than what Wroten will
be charged with, and Jared Allen (2nd DUI) getting his suspension reduced to 2 weeks.
I'd originially thought Wroten and Byrd would be up for 4-week suspensions, but there's
obviously some wiggle room.