More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

St. Louis Rams rookie third-round draft pick corner back Bradley Fletcher has agreed to a 4-year contract with the team. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

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The Rams have struck a deal with third round pick, Iowa CB Bradley Fletcher. The news arrived via his agent's Twitter feed. Word is that Fletcher will receive a $892,298 bonus on a four-year deal that can pay him as much as $1.2 million this year. 

Fletcher was somewhat of a surprise pick in the third round, but the Rams coaches and scouts like his physical style of play, a perfect fit for head coach Steve Spagnuolo (a former DB coach) and defensive coordinator Ken Flajole's system. 

Reports from spring practice put Fletcher beyond rookie expectations, for that this time of year, and he will compete for playing time, even a starting role, in the second CB and nickel spots. 

We'll have to wait and see the final details before grading my contract prediction. We do know now that the Rams have gone from signing late round picks from three-year to four-deals, as predicted. That's a better move in my opinion, especially with the cap uncertainty.

This is good news, and the dominoes should start falling soon here. 

Uh oh, we've got a rumor sighting...two rumors actually. Let's evaluate.

Both came in the form of a question posed to ESPN's Mike Sando in his mailbag post from today. The first one stinks to high heaven: Rams looking to trade Alex Barron for a draft pick. No way. The team legitimately thinks Barron can be a good LT, and if he can cut down on the penalties he will be. And, as Sando points out, this team can't afford to trade working offensive linemen.

The second rumor has the Rams swapping TE Joe Klopfenstein to the Broncos for DE Jarvis Moss. This one sounds more like a fan playing armchair general manager on a message board somewhere, connecting disappointing recent draft picks on the roster bubble for each team. It's got to be a rumor, and the only thing giving it a whiff of cred is Denver's wacked out management. I don't see the Broncos giving up on their first round pick from '07 just yet, though the switch to a 3-4 moves him closer to the old roster knife. Klop's as good gone with the Rams, but you'd think teams could just wait it out...unless they don't want to compete with other bidders.

Just how important is Jason Brown to the Rams plans? Enough that the team will pay him enough to make him one of the 50 richest professional athletes in the US, according to Sports Illustrated's "Fortunate 50." Ok, so he's not making Tiger Woods money or anything like that, but Brown, an offensive lineman, made the list, tied at #48 with 36-year-old MLB pitcher Derek Lowe. 

Now, let's put this in perspective. Jason Brown, did we mention this, is an offensive lineman...not one of those precious left tackles either. The man plays center. Overpaid? You can argue that, but how many more Rams games would you watch with an offensive line configuration like last year's? Exactly. 

There's another point to be made here. Offensive tackles, especially the blind side OTs, have gotten all the love recently, books, a forthcoming movie (from the same book, "The Blind Side"), and exalted draft status. But that position has come to match the edge rushers that drove the evolution of the position. Now, with the best DTs commanding double teams, it's essential to have a tough middle to your offensive line, and a center that can take on top DTs alone when he needs to is a valuable asset to have be it for pass protection or opening holes up the middle. That makes a guy like Jason Brown so valuable. Could the Rams have drafted a center for the same ends? Sure, but with so many other needs and the chance to land a proven guy in the early part of his career allowed them to instantly upgrade the line, no development time needed, as well as focus on other needs in the draft...like offensive tackle. 

Good linemen make the guys around the better, another advantage Brown brings to the Rams who desperately need Jacob Bell to be the guard they're paying him to be. And on Brown's other side, Incognito benefits by not having to overcompensate for a weaker  center next to him. 

Did the Rams overpay for Jason Brown? You can certainly argue that; he is on the list of the 50 highest paid professional athletes in America. Ultimately, it's not my money though, and the cost of another shitty offensive line would have been much higher.

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Speaking of the highest paid athletes, notice there aren't many football players on that list of the 50 richest? In fact, did you notice that only one player cracks the top ten - top twenty-five for that matter - and  that's Peyton Manning thanks to almost doubling his football salary with endorsements. Thanks to the league's cap structure and contract arrangements - and facemasks - NFL players don't see the yearly take home of their counterparts from other sports. 

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

6 months ago: St. Louis Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo watches his team during NFL football minicamp at the Rams' training facility Friday, May 1, 2009, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

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Happy 4th of July weekend everyone. 

After this weekend, the last leg of the offseason should roll by pretty fast...just about three weeks away once we head back to work on Monday. And it won't be as slow as you might think. Well, okay, it'll be a pretty slow few weeks, but there will probably be some contract stuff happening with the rookies, and there's a big deadline on July 15 regarding OJ Atogwe. 

If Atogwe doesn't sign his franchise tender by July 15, he cannot sign a long-term deal with the team during the season, which is what both he and the Rams are after. He can sign a one-year deal, but he'll then have to go through restricted free agency again, thanks to the voided CBA, missing out on the kind of pay day he wants. So, keep an eye out for news on that front. 

Editorially speaking, I've got a few things lined up for today. Posting will be light over the holiday weekend (I'm bugging out for the weekend), but we'll have an item of interest or two up front. 

Since the overarching thread this offseason has been Spagnuolo and Co remaking the Rams, pillars, practices, and all that....how about a what's he thinking caption-off!?!? Post yours in the comments or to us via Twitter. 

Have a great 4th!

More photos » by Louis Lanzano - AP

New York Giants football player Plaxico Burress exits Manhattan criminal court in New York City, March 31. Burress, Brandon Marshall and Michael Vick form a trio of enticing talents that many teams will be tempted to bring on board for the 2009 NFL season. Along with that talent, however, is the personalities that consistently put them in a courthouse.

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  In the last month, the one storyline that has consistently had this community buzzing is "Should we sign 'x'?" In the last month, we've seen a story on Plaxico Burress (by VanRam), one on Brandon Marshall (by DekaJ), and five (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) on Michael Vick. Bryan Burwell, of Post-Dispatch fame, even joined in Wednesday with this piece, suggesting the pillars should be made more of dough and less of concrete.

  While I can understand the uncomfortability many of us feel with the roster and the depth chart as it exists, this seems motivated more out of desperation than acumen.  It seems we have gotten to the point where some of us are willing to sacrifice what integrity this team has for the potential on-field accomplishments of one of these three.  So while I have stayed largely silent throughout these debates, I feel it is time to opine.

  Adding any of these three would wreck everything this team has built in the last five months, and while that may not seem very long, I believe the next 6 years of this franchise are already in place.  Adding Burress, Marshall or Vick would put us on the road to ruin, and I'll offer why I think so after the fold.

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What about the best available free agents on defense? Like we mentioned this morning with the list of offensive free agents, it's slim pickens on this list too. As you can see, many of the players left out there are spare parts, cogs for existing machines rather than those being rebuilt. Few players fit the "ascending" label the Rams are looking for in acquiring free agents.

One name on the cornerback list is Jason Craft. Though he hardly fits the ascending label, he did prove to be a useful player last season, racking up 3 sacks in blitz packages. The Rams reached out to him this spring, but he hadn't responded as of late May...which makes you wonder if he lost interest or the Rams did.

Ok, armchair general managers, here's your chance to round out the Rams roster with this handy dandy list of best available free agents. Since this is a list of offensive players, direct your attention to the names at running back and wide receiver. Well?

Not many names on that list that would be of much use to the Rams. The backup running backs are a particularly older lot. The injury-riddled Selvin Young is the youngest of the bunch and he's out until September (maybe) with back issues. The rest of the list would have a hard time fitting the "ascending" player mold the Rams have stated they're looking for in any additional free agent pickups. 

The wide receiver list offers some possibilities, but it's mostly flotsam and jetsam and aging vets that would be a nice component for a team threatening a deep playoff run. I think Matt Jones offers some intriguing possibility, but Spags' "four pillars" might be a stretch for the converted QB. Mostly though, this list is populated with 4th receiver types, something the Rams already have. 

We get all kinds of inquiries about the Rams, especially when it comes to fantasy football stuff. So, the other day when I got an email from a fantasy "expert" asking me what I thought Marc Bulger's 2009 season would look like, I thought the best move would be to throw it out to the community, get the range of opinions. Predicting outcomes in June is tough enough, but the Rams, in the midst of a rebuilding process, it's damn hard. And there's no player on the team harder to predict right now than Marc Bulger.

So let's put our heads together and see what we can come up with for a Bulger prediction. First, a few pros and cons.

PROS

• Improved offensive line
• Stability in the coaching staff
• Quicker offense that relies on Bulger's accuracy and short drops

CONS

• Bulger's coming off two poor seasons.
• Injuries - this is a player that has dealt with conconcussions and the fallout from being sacked 124 times in the last three seasons
• Question marks at WR

There you have it. All those things, and Bulger himself, will go a long way toward determining Marc Bulger's performance this season...and answer other questions about his and the team's future.Anyway, make your prediction for Bulger's Yards/TD/INT in the comments.