The St. Louis Rams signed two more free agents off the veteran scrap heap on Tuesday. Joining the team are offensive tackle Barry Richardson and outside linebacker Mario Haggan. The Rams announced the news via Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.
Let's parse the moves after the jump.
Richardson started all 16 games at right tackle for the Chiefs last season. He drew nine penalties (the Seahawks signed Alex Barron on Tuesday, for reference) last season, but that was hardly his greatest fault. According to the stats at Pro Football Focus, Richardson allowed eight sacks, six QB hits and 36 pressures. He graded out at -19.5 in run blocking and -17.2 as a pass blocker.
The season before that, Richardson did a little better as a run blocker, grading out positively. The Chiefs also had a health Jamaal Charles which certainly helped. His pass protection was still atrocious. Those were his only two seasons as a starter, since the Chiefs drafted him in the 6th-round in 2008.
At just 26, Richardson at least gives the Rams some experienced depth at a position of great uncertainty. Hopefully, line coach Paul Boudreau can work with him too, but that's a big task considering he also has to fix Rodger Saffold and Jason Smith.
Haggan, 32, is a natural strongside linebacker. He only started once in Denver last season, and saw only 192 snaps in addition to special teams duty. He did start in the two seasons before last, under McDaniels, and was a solid run defender.
You have to think that Haggan will be in the mix for the Rams' starting strongside backer job, with Jo-Lonn Dubar sitting in pole position for the job on the other side.