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Green Bay Packers receiver Greg Jennings is expected to be one on the bigger fish to hit the free agent waters next month. Naturally, teams and being paired up with Jennings, just in time for Valentine's Day. One of those teams mentioned happens to be the St. Louis Rams, because, well, the Rams.
Don't get your hopes up. Jennings is expected to command big bucks. Jason LaCanfora of CBS Sports pegged Jenning's likely price at $10 million per season, which could be well outside what the Rams have to spend.
Despite some confusing numbers, the Rams have roughly $10 million of cap space, though that could be more once March 12 rolls around, depending on who gets the boot between now and then (bye bye Steven Jackson). Creative contract work can make it fit, but that could compromise future spending.
GM Les Snead has said before that the Rams are not afraid to make a big move or two in free agency, so long as it's a young player that fits into future plans. Jennings turns 30 in September, which puts him on the wrong side of the equation. If the Rams were going to make that kind of investment, the money would be better spent on a younger player in the prime of his career. Dwayne Bowe is 28; Mike Wallace is 26, and Percy Harvin, on the trade block, turns 25 in May.
Spending big bucks on a receiver may still be out of the question, regardless who the target is. Even if Snead and Demoff got fancy with the math, it would still compromise the team's ability to pursue free agents for other essential areas of the roster, like safety or the offensive line, not to mention bolstering depth with guys like William Hayes.
We might just have to face the reality that, as Rams fans, free agency might be more a series of small, but important stories rather than splashy headlines.