Getting centered

It's easy to forget that there are still a few, a few, free agents out there. Yesterday, the Panthers made their former starting center Justin Hartwig a free agent, releasing him and replacing him with Ryan Kalil.

Injuries hampered him in 2006 and he missed the last game of the season last year with a leg injury. He'll still be 29 when the season starts. Prior to joining the Panthers he spent four seasons in Tennessee, playing two seasons, 2004 & 2005, with the Rams newest addition G Jacob Bell. If his health checks out, this wouldn't be a bad pick up for the Rams at all. Incognito and Setterstrom could still take some snaps in camp and be available for depth on the line if the team brought in a starter like Hartwig.

The Rams still have a lot of needs, more than they can reasonable address through the draft. The talent pool left on the FA market isn't likely to help at positions like WR or starting-quality CB, but they could still meet a need or two before the draft.

I'd like to see Devaney bring in a special teams, um, specialist. Somebody like Donnie Nickey would give that dreadful branch of the team some help and add some depth in the defensive backfield. Nickey's a safety, but if they could find a player that would add depth at CB it would be even better. Conversely, they could bring in someone like LB Josh Stamer, who would add depth to the LBs. Remember the easy-to-forget Isaiah Kacyvenski  signing that bolstered our ST during the 2006 season.

The response to the mock draft has been good, but it'd be even better to get a few more votes in before making the final tally. Don't forget to make your pick for the Rams first round draft choice here. I plan on posting the results Friday and moving on the second round pick thereafter. Vote.