St. Louis Rams Scrimmage Notes

It was a beautiful night for the St. Louis Rams scrimmage at Lindenwood University in Harlen C. Hunter Stadium before approximately 8,000 fans. The players took the field around 6:30 and began their warm-ups. The scrimmage did not actually start until close to 7PM.

The Rams started with live drills frm their own 35 yards line and you had 3 plays to make a first down, and march down the field. A.J. Feeley Took the field with the first team offense against the second team defense. It was not much of a contest as the offense scored a touchdown after only five plays when Feeley hit Danny Amendola with a 30 yard touchdown pass. Sam Bradford was next in line with the second team offense against the first team defense. Bradford's first pass was caught and then fumbled by Daniel Fells. After that it was smooth sailing as Bradford looked calm in the pocket and threw some ropes including a roll out 11 yard touchdown pass to Keenan Burton. After Bradford it was time for Keith Null who mad short work of the defense by hitting Brandon McRae for a 60 yard touchdown catch and run.

After the 3-and-out portion of practice the Rams went to situational work. The Rams practiced trying to move the ball from their own goal line this proved near impossible for each group. The Rams then worked on 4th down short yardage plays which they did not look very good at. Late in the scrimmage the Rams went into their 2-minute drill where they had to move the ball down the field in less than two minutes and they were also given two timeouts. Sam Bradford was first to try this and showed everyone what they had been waiting for as he dropped in a perfect 53 yard bomb to Danny Amendola. When the scrimmage ended all Rams players signed autographs for 15+ minutes including Steven Jackson and Sam Bradford.

My overall notes and impressions of the practice were:
I thought the pace overall was slow you did not see a lot of running to the huddle or on and off the field. Also time between plays at times was very long

Sam Bradford looked great, threw the ball sharp and even threw well on the run

Danny Amendola is having a great camp and is determined to stay in the starting lineup

The Rams tight end corp. dropped a lot of passes in scrimmage someone needs to step up

No Rams running back left an impressionm without Steven Jackson the Rams look helpless on the ground

Jerome Murphy and James Laurinaitis like to stick people

Mandy Gilyard was hit on the arm and will have an x-ray I hope that is not serious

George Selvie had a strong scrimmage

Rams Start to Negotiate With Sam Bradford

With NFL training camps set to open in less than two weeks there are still no first round draft picks signed to contracts. NFL Network's Jason La Canfora and Michael Lombard confirmed the St. Louis Rams started contract negotiations with Sam Bradford's agent Tom Condon on Friday.

As a Rams fan I am still a little worried that the Rams still have not been sold to Stan Kroenke, and now it looks like the ownership will need to shell out around $50 million dollars in guaranteed money to sign Sam Bradford. This must be a nightmare for current owners Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez. The economy is in terrible shape, the Rams are coming off a 1-15 season and the current draft structure is basically going to force them to pay Sam Bradford more than the $41.7 million that the Detroit Lions gave Matthew Stafford last year. What can they do?

The NFL would like to implement a rookie wage scale as part of the new collective bargaining agreement. This has caused some to, believe it or not say the Rams should play hard ball with Sam Bradford during these negotiations. Some have actually stated that the Rams should just offer Sam Bradford the rookie minimum of slightly over $300,000 and if he doesn't like it he can sit out the season. Well that seems a little absurd for a franchise that has won 6 games in 3 years, is up for sale, and has a stadium lease issue.

Bottom line is the St. Louis Rams need to sign Sam Bradford and Rodger Saffold as soon as possible and get them in here for a full training camp. With Steven Jackson turning 27 and not much else to get excited about the Rams simply can't afford not to draft and sign their franchise quarterback. Also if the Rams were not prepared to pay out a huge sum of money for the number one overall selection in the 2010 NFL Draft they simply would have traded out of the spot. Currently television networks are paying $20.4 billion to televise the NFL, and as long as that money keeps poring in a large portion will continue to go to its marquee players. The Rams absolutely have to sign Sam Bradford prior to the 2010 training camp starting and I believe that is exactly what they will do. The fact that talks have officially begun is very good news. Look for the vault to open soon.

By Stlvinnie - http://www.stlouisramfan.com