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There's not much preventing the St. Louis Rams and Danny Amendola from consummating a long-term relationship. In fact, there's only one thing, but it's kind of a big one: cash money.
We noted yesterday a comment from Jim Thomas that $6-7 million per season would likely be too high of a price for the Rams to pay. That could be a real problem for the Rams, because the price of free agent receivers might jump through the roof this spring.
Take a look at some of the numbers CBS Sports' Jason LaCanfora threw out there for the upper echelon of receivers on the market this year (in the context of an article about Percy Harvin):
I'll take Harvin at, say, $12.5 million a year over Mike Wallace at $11 million or Greg Jennings at $10 million, even if I have to give up a second-round pick and then some to get him.
That's not especially unreasonable for an estimate. All three of those guys have put up big numbers through the early part of their career, certainly bigger numbers than Danny Amendola. Walk it down a few shelves to get to the middle tier of free agent receivers, where you'll find Amendola, and a $6 million price tag doesn't seem all that far fetched.
Negotiating Amendola's deal will be difficult. When he's on the field, Amendola has the ability to catch nearly everything thrown his way. He fits nicely into the slot, but Schottenheimer turned him into a capable contributor on the outside as well in 2012.
His problem is staying on the field. Amendola missed all of 2011, save for a few Week 1 snaps, with a dislocated elbow that turned into a torn triceps. Last season, a freak injury nearly killed him by pushing his clavicle into his heart. A foot and heel injury slowed him late in the season, and his level of play tailed off noticeably.
The combination of injuries and talent make predicting his free agent possibilities nearly impossible. Still, there should be more than enough teams interested in his services, enough to drive up the bidding out of St. Louis' price range.