The Rams really beefed up their offense thru the past seven days by signing free agents Drew Bennett at WR and Randy McMichael at TE. James Hall for the compensatory 5th round pick that came via Hargrove was the only move of note on defense. The Rams did sign backup S Todd Johnson, previously with the Bears. Johnson will become a big part of the Rams special teams unit.
Still waiting for another shoe to drop. There is a revealing quote in the Rams official story about the McMichael and Johnson singings.
Oh really?
There are still lots of free agent defensive linemen left on the market, of course, many of them don't merit a second look. Here's the list from ESPN's free agent tracker.
Robaire Smith, Titans DE and UFA, is starting to tour the league, meeting with potential suitors. Smith is a D-line specialist that cana play DE or DT. His size, 6'4" 328 lbs, has made him a fine run stopper through his seven years in the league. Smith visited Cleveland this week, and must have been so impressed with all that city has to offer (yes, I'm being facetious) that he hasn't visited any city since, at least that's the last news reported on Smith's whereabouts. The Browns did sign DT Shaun Smith, a RFA, from the Bengals on Friday, which means the other Smith doesn't have to worry about what he'll spend his free time doing after visiting the Rock and Roll HOF in Cleveland AND his asking price is steep. I don't have an official total, but the Rams have likely used more than half of their available $23 million in cap space, meaning that they'll have to look among the more moderately priced isle for defensive linemen.
Yesterday, former Rams DE became the subject du jour at TST upon news of his release by the SeaChickens. Signing him for depth at DE seemed to be a reasonable option, but then I saw this over at ProFootballTalk.com, a site with a considerable reputation for insider league news:
Physically, the belief is that he's shot. In fact, there are concerns that he would not be able to pass a physical. There also are concerns regarding whether Wistrom even has the desire to play.
With that said, Wistrom started in all 18 regular-season and playoff games last season.
Wistrom, a nine-year veteran, had 11.5 sacks in three seasons with the Seahawks. And he received $14 million in guaranteed money.
I have a hard time buying the "desire" argument, unless the pressure in Seattle created by his contract ruined his experience there. It can happen, ask A-Rod. However, talk of not being able to pass a physical does raise a pretty big red flag.
The Arizona Cardinals haven't made a big splash in the FA market, but assistant coach Richie Anderson was doing a little talent scouting of his own this week, soliciting an undercover cop for a little fun. "It's a nice bob and weave, but how you do handle lanes?"