Can we even go get an RB?

[SJ76]

Because Mikel LeShoure was inactive last week for the Detroit Lions and he's healthy. A low 1st round pick out of Illinois 2 yearas ago - has good size, good speed but apparently is not in the good graces of the Lions coach.

6'0 230


Could we get him for a 3rd rounder and could we even afford him?

 

[Retroram52]

That is almost Steven Jackson size. If Sammie would re-structure his contract just a little bit like C. Long and Laurinaitus did, we would have the cash but noooo, he is holding to every penny we pay his vanilla ass.

 

[RobBase]

I'm sure the Lions would bend over backwards to let you have him for a 3rd. He was a 2nd rounder, who tore his knee up. He had a good year near the goal line last year for us, but showed not much else. Some people say his TD's are inflated because of all the times Calvin got tackled inside the two, but TD's are TD's. Rumor around here is he is on the block. I don't think he carries a large contract.

 

[Retroram52]

He sounds like a Rams player RobBase!

 

[SJ76]

He was an early 2nd... Thanks ROB BASE!

right about now.... lol hit it!


He has to be on the block. I know he got hurt early his rookie year, but I don't know how bad the injury was?

 

[RobBase]

It was bad. Blew his Achilles out I believe. But he played all of last year after the injury. Undrafted rookie FA Joique Bell has simply out played him and looked better in practice. Not sure if that says more about Leshoure's injury or our lack of drafting skills.

 

[SJ76]

Thanks man. We'll see how it plays out.

 

[demiurge]

Don't see any reason for it - young player with injury problems, would require us to trade a draft pick we could use for cheap talent next year, and we have cap issues.

We aren't winning the Super Bowl this year folks. Lets let them build the team. Getting these young players reps is part of that.

 

[SJ76]

demiurge, i'm hearing ya... but we need a running game. I think our running game is average right now. O-line run blocking - average. We need a bigger RB especially against San Fran and Seattle.

They will pound these young RB's that barely weign 200 lbs.

But I am hoping that 1 of these guys raises the bar and starts shooting through some holes!

 

[Clayton]

I always wondered why no one has gone after Ben Tate

 

[David_son]

I'm sure the Lions would bend over backwards to let you have him for a 3rd. He was a 2nd rounder, who tore his knee up. He had a good year near the goal line last year for us, but showed not much else. Some people say his TD's are inflated because of all the times Calvin got tackled inside the two, but TD's are TD's. Rumor around here is he is on the block. I don't think he carries a large contract.

To be fair though he is soon going to be a FA and no guarentee he is getting another contract. I wouldnt restructure either. Its funny fans get angry when guys hold out but get angry when they dont restructure... This is their job so shouldnt they try and get as much as they can, wouldnt you. Also I bet if your boss came to you asking you to take a pay cut so they can give it to another employee you would tell him to go F himself.

 

[Retroram52]

Davidson. Your logic is somewhat erroneus because you are thinking like the common blue-collar working stiff. If I am making $16.00/hr in a contract situation and my boss asks me to re-structure, yea, I 'd tell him to go eff himself as he was showing me the door.

These guys make gobs of money. After the first couple of million, what would losing a million or two matter. It is sort of like Patrick Ewing whining back in the day during one the NBA's notorius strikes that he could not live on the union's $450,000 pay-out during the strike. What a load of shit!!!

You learn how to make ends meet when you make $16.00/hr and suddenly you are now bringing home game checks in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars and you then can't live on that??!!! Give me a break!!

 

[mutigers1fan]

You guys realize restructuring doesn't mean paycut right? It just means reformatting the money into a signing bonus delaying the cap hit because you can spread it over the remaining years. The Steelers restructured everyone for a few years and then let 3 or 4 guys go after last year because they we're paying so much in the back end of contracts that they couldn't fit guys in. Restructuring is dangerous business and I think restructuring Sam's contract would be a HUGE mistake because it would kill the Rams cap in the end years.

My suggestion, wait until there are only 2 or 3 more years left and sign him to a new contract. Extending him will add years at a lower dollar amount than the remaining years are you can structure that to spread the remaining cap money along with the new money across all of those years. It would be far less financially crippling.

 

[ksudodger]

Guys with us signing Max Starks, we can send the Lions Saffold and a 4th for LeShore. Then nobody needs to restructure anything and we get a nice compliment to D Rich....

 

[shopson67]

I always wondered why no one has gone after Ben Tate

He will be a free agent after the season. Houston isn't going to let go of him before then.

 

[shopson67]

Guys with us signing Max Starks, we can send the Lions Saffold and a 4th for LeShore. Then nobody needs to restructure anything and we get a nice compliment to D Rich....

Apparently, RT Mitchell Schwartz is another Brown that is falling out of favor and might be available via trade. Might make Saffold expendable in such a deal (although I don't know what to think of LeShoure at this point).

 

[Retroram52]

Yea Shopson, the Browns still have John Greco as a starter at one of the guard spots and he is an ex-Ram. We drafted him. Send them Saffold for Scwartz and say a fourth or fifth pick.

 

[ksudodger]

Guys, we do NOT need nor should we WANT an O lineman in return for Saffold... why are we even discussing it?
After the Starks signing, we need to look at upgrading the RB corps by dangling Saffold.

 

[UnrealTerm04]

What will Bradford's salary be for the 2013 and 2014 seasons? It would be nice of him to restructure his deal but I remember saying this back in the final weeks of our CBS days and a lot of you ripped me for it.

 

[Vitamike]

What will Bradford's salary be for the 2013 and 2014 seasons? It would be nice of him to restructure his deal but I remember saying this back in the final weeks of our CBS days and a lot of you ripped me for it.

Here's the answer to your question ShaneC...

2013 $12.595 M
2014 $17.6 M

While there is no limit to the number of times a player can restructure their deals Sam already did this in May of last year. I believe that move freed up cap space for us to re-sign Chris Long and James Laurinaitis. Chris has in turn restructured his deal and this helped us sign both free agents added this year in Jared Cook and Jake Long.

Now from what I was able to find today, if we are looking to get Rams players to restructure their deals probably the ones that makes the most sense are either Cortland Finnegan or James Laurinaitis if not both.

Here's the info....

James Laurinaitis (LB)-St. Louis Rams: $12.4 million
The Rams’ best options to help them get under the cap are Cortland Finnegan ($15 million) and James Laurinaitis. The five-year, $41.5 million contract extension Laurinaitis signed one day before the Rams’ 2012 regular season opener contains an $11 million fifth day of 2013 league year roster bonus that became fully guaranteed after the third game of the 2012 season. The easiest way to gain cap room is to convert some portion, if not all, of Laurinaitis’ roster bonus into a signing bonus.

Also I found this interesting too, the Defensive side of the ball uses more cap space for less players.

Rams 2013
Offense $48.168 M 30 Players
Defense $59.977 M 25 Players
ST $1.651 M 3 Players