St. Louis Rams FS OJ Atogwe officially became a free agent at 11 p.m. local time last night. Though the team continues to talk about a deal, Atogwe now gets to test the free agent waters. Unfortunately for Atogwe, those waters have become incredibly calm since the draft.
At one point in time, it was thought that several teams were interested in Atogwe, including Miami, Detroit, Dallas and San Francisco. Since then the market has started to dry up a little bit. Miami and Dallas both appear to be out of the mix, as does San Francisco. Philadelphia is said to be uninterested despite losing S Marlin Jackson. That doesn't mean the sweepstakes is over though. ESPN's John Clayton said the Lions could be one potential suitor, and remember they have a coach, Scott Linehan, who is familiar with what Atogwe can do on the field.
Atogwe didn't get any nibbles when the Rams left him dangling on the first-right-of-refusal line through the free agency period. Potential suitors are falling away. That doesn't mean that one won't emerge; it just means some of the most obvious ones aren't interested. I remain skeptical of the Rams chances to resign him.
[Note by VanRam, 06/02/10 9:02 PM EDT ] The Vikings appear to be out of the mix for Atogwe too. That means that the Rams could indeed be favorites to retain his services.