According to Peter King of Sports Illustrated, The Rams and #2 overall draft pick Chris Long agreed to a deal worth "a couple million" less than first overall pick OT Jake Long. That puts Chris Long's contract in the $29 million guaranteed range for the five nonvoidable years on the deal.

That makes sense, but a good reminder of just how pricey rookie contracts have become, something that figures to be a major sticking point in the looming CBA negotiations. Chris Long's deal is worth 16% more than last year's second overall pick, Calvin Johnson. All things being relative, it's a good deal for the Rams. Long could have held out for something more akin to what #3 pick QB Matt Ryan got from the Falcons, arguing that Long was more projectable and figures to be just as important of a team anchor as any skill position, true on both counts. Haters out there - are there any? - may roll  their eyes at the deal, but the Rams came to the table subject to market forces and with a mandate writ large to have Long in camp or risk undermining a season that figures to be an important one for the franchise.

The Rams also signed 7th round pick Chris Chamberlain to a three year deal. Not quite as heralded as news of Long's signing, the Tulsa QB figures to be an important part of the Rams plans this season as a special teams ace. While he might see time as a LB with the Rams potentially short in that department, he might surprise us all with some snaps at strong safety, as we've discussed before.

The Rams have just three picks left to sign: Avery, Justin King and David Vobora. For the later two, 4th and 7th round picks, respectively, it's just a matter of applying the formula, and both are a safe bet to be signed by Thursday. Similar situation with Avery. The Redskins signed their second round pick, Devin Thomas, who was drafted immediately after Avery, on Friday, July 18. Thomas signed a 4 year deal worth $4.8 million, so the terms of a deal with Avery ought not be to hard to extrapolate from that. Expect him to sign soon too.

Usually it's the top pick in the draft whose deal sets the benchmark for the other first rounders, but with Jake Long signing a five year, $30 million guaranteed deal before the draft and the Falcons then giving Matt Ryan a dump truck load of money (6 years, $72M, $34.5M guaranteed) deals for the top draftees won't be so easy to figure out. For the Rams, the Ryan and Jake Long deals obviously carry quite a bit of impact on contract negotiations with second overall pick Chris Long.

Chris Long and his agent can now enter negotiations with the Rams using Matt Ryan's deal as a starting point, bringing their asking price to somewhere slightly north of the Falcons QB of the future. That's a ton of money for players yet to see an NFL snap. The need to regin in rookie salaries should be obvious. NFL.com's Pat Kirwan has more on the 2008 draftees' contract situtation, and speculates that Chris Long's deal will be much closer to Jake Long's deal than Matt Ryan's.

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I'm putting together the Leonard Little projections and will have that up this afternoon, so stay tuned. In the meantime, how 'bout some links...

• Hopefully, the Rams won't have to dip into the free agent pool for a QB this year. It's slim pickens to say the least. 
• Nobody wins the PR battle  around the looming CBA fight. Nobody. 
• The Redskins landed Minnesota DE Erasmus James , and figure to recast him as a role player. It was a smart move to snap him up for a 7th round pick. 
• What's going on with the Seahawks?
• The 49ers have one motley crew of wide receivers, a bunch of #3 WRs...and the confounding talent of Ashley Lelie, now a pet project.
• The Arizona Cardinals play calling duties have been passed from head coach Ken Whisnehunt to offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Anxious to see how that works out.

I'm already in need of a break from the for sale rumors. As the season progresses, it's my hope that the Rams make their next storm in the national news with their play on the field...exciting, winning play on the field that is. If you are hungry for more "for sale" talk, Bernie Miklasz has his own QnA up at the PD today, he answers some questions we didn't address yesterday in our QnA.

Be prepared, this issue will come up throughout the season as pundits will continue mentioning the Rams' situation before, during and after every game broadcast. Again, hopefully the team's play will dominate the conversation; otherwise, the discussion will start to shift to "should they sell/they should sell" as St. Louis football fans continue the unplanned, unannounced and unofficial Rams boycott. There's also that whole CBA thing too.

Speaking of the CBA, owners cited rookie salaries as a main issue in their decision to opt out. I guess Arthur Blank had a different opinion on that. Matt Ryan now has a contract for six years, $72 million, with $34.75 million guaranteed. That's a deal on par with Carson Palmer and Ben Roethlisberger. Hopefully, for the Falcons sake, Ryan doesn't have a secret penchant for cock fighting.

Deals with the Rams draft picks ought start coming this summer. The big one, Chris Long, will have a deal probably closer to what Jake Long received - 5 years, $57.75 million, $30 million in guarantees - than Ryan's deal. However, the decision to opt out of the CBA will change what those contracts look like. Long and Ryan were, as far as I can tell, the only rookies to sign deals before the owners opted out of the CBA, at least the only high profile draftees. Now, rookie deals can't last beyond 2011, when the current CBA lapses.