Over the last few weeks there has been one name that has been constantly linked to the Rams: Cortland Finnegan. He is one of the top ten cornerbacks in football. Finnegan thinks that the Titans won't resign him and he sounds like he is ready to move on.
The Rams may have an edge in signing him. Finnegan expressed on 101 ESPN an openness to coming to play for his old coach, Jeff Fisher in St. Louis. Additionally, the signing of ex-Titan's defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil by the Rams today as defensive back coach adds another connection.
Needless to say the Rams won't be the only suitors for Finnegan, since he's arguably the top corner on the market. The Lions also have multiple Tennessee connections with ex-Titans defensive coordinator Jim Swartz at the helm and they also just hired the Titans defensive backs coach, Marcus Robinson, as a defensive assistant. The Cowboys are also a team in desperate need of corner help and would certainly be interested in Finnegan.
He can play both outside and in the slot with great efficiency. The main issue with Cortland is he is a hothead. He hasn't gained many fans throughout the NFL with his dirty antics, the biggest of which was a fight with Andre Johnson.
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And here's a decent highlight video of Finnegan.
As for the contract it would take, he would be priced around the same range that Jonathan Joseph was last season. Joseph received a 5 year, $48.75 million dollar deal from the Texans and he proved to be well worth it. He became a huge part of the league leading defense.
This would be expensive for any team but particularly so for one that currently only has $10 million in cap space; but that number will go up after releasing some players or restructuring expensive contracts.
A way that has been proposed to free up cap space is for the Rams to release Ron Bartell. He has been great for the Rams, a bright spot on a very bad defense, but he had a severe, season ending neck injury in 2011. There is uncertainty about whether or not he can come back and play at the same level. Bartell is due to make $6.5 million in 2012 and that's a huge price to pay for a injury prone 30 year old player.