One of the more notable news items to come out of the first full-fledged day of media availability at the combine in Indianapolis was a report from Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com indicating that the Rams were allowing Sam Bradford to seek out a potential trade. General manager Les Snead disputed that report, but whether or not it’s true, a deal involving Bradford appears unlikely. Given his contract situation and his injury history, Bradford’s best bet may be agreeing to a pay cut to remain in St. Louis, where it looks like he’ll have a good chance to re-assume the starting QB job for the Rams.
Here’s more on the NFC West squad:
- While the Rams and Bradford’s agents don’t have a meeting scheduled for this week in Indianapolis, the two sides will at least talk over the phone, tweets Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- St. Louis does have at least one meeting with a quarterback’s agent set up for this week, according to Thomas, who reports (via Twitter) that the club will meet with the rep for free-agent-to-be Shaun Hill.
- Offensive tackle Jake Long, who missed the second half of the 2014 season with a torn ACL, has a $10.5MM cap number for 2015, and the Rams have begun discussions about possibly lowering that number, according to Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Long, a former first overall pick, figures to move to a different position if he returns to the Rams in 2015, since last year’s first-rounder, Greg Robinson, appears poised to take over left tackle on a full-time basis (Twitter link via Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald).
- Speaking of offensive tackles, Snead said that Joe Barksdale is among the players who are expected to test the free agent market next month, tweets Wagoner. If Barksdale signs elsewhere, that would open up the right tackle spot for Long, assuming he has recovered from his knee injury in time for the 2015 season.