Rams Pursued Cousins, Garoppolo In 2014
Here’s more from Breer, beginning with the Rams’ behind-the-scenes approach after they were dealt a blow similar to what the Vikings endured earlier this week.
- Sam Bradford‘s preseason ACL tear in 2014 induced the Rams to inquire about trades for other quarterbacks. GM Les Snead did not confirm which passers the team pursued, but Breer reports the Rams made an effort to deal for Kirk Cousins and “seriously discussed” Jimmy Garoppolo with the Patriots. Snead discovered the price was too high on those passers before making a successful waiver claim for current starter Case Keenum.
Rams Make Several Roster Moves, Down To 75
The Rams are down to the 75-man roster limit. Here’s the full slate of transactions made by Los Angeles, per a club announcement.
Waived:
- K Taylor Bertolet
- TE Benson Browne
- DB Michael Caputo
- LB Zach Colvin
- C/G Brian Folkerts
- LB Darreon Herring
- S Jordan Lomax
- LS Jeff Overbaugh
- WR David Richards
- TE Jake Stoneburner
- OT Jordan Swindle
- QB Dylan Thompson
Waived/Injured:
- FB Zach Laskey
- WR Marquez North
If Laskey and North clear waivers, they’ll revert to the Rams’ IR list.
Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter links) first reported most of these moves.
Pharoh Cooper Out A Few Weeks
- Rams rookie wide receiver Pharoh Cooper has a shoulder injury and will miss “a few weeks,” head coach Jeff Fisher yesterday told reporters, including Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com. At minimum, Cooper will probably miss the season opener. Cooper, a fourth-round pick, had apparently been the favorite for the LA’s third receiver role (and could still be when he gets back to action).
Rams Release Quinton Coples
The Rams have released Quinton Coples, according to Rand Getlin of NFL.com (on Twitter). 
Coples, selected 16th overall in the 2012 draft, was cut by the Dolphins in February before his fifth-year option for the 2016 season became fully guaranteed. The veteran edge defender had previously spent most of his career with the Jets, before being claimed off waivers by Miami last fall. Coples had his best year as a pro in 2014, but even that amounted to just 35 tackles and 6.5 sacks, modest totals for a first-round pass rusher.
The Panthers also showed interest in Coples before he signed with the Rams in the spring.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Rams Sign Tavon Austin To Extension
6:10pm: Austin will receive $28.55MM in injury guarantees, and $25.5MM will be due by March of 2017, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com tweets. The new years in the deal average out to $10.5MM, per La Canfora. By that measurement, the 25-year-old Austin will be the league’s 12th-highest-paid receiver. While that hierarchy will certainly change by the time Austin’s new years commence, this provides security for a wideout that has yet to record 500 receiving yards in a season, making the agreement unique.
5:17pm: The deal stands to keep Austin in Los Angeles through the 2021 season, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Similar to the Chiefs’ extension for 2013 first-rounder Eric Fisher, the player selected seven spots behind him will see his new contract add four years on top of the two left on his existing rookie pact.
The Rams announced the deal, via Sirius XM Radio (on Twitter).
5:11pm: It’s a four-year, $42MM extension for Austin, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter). That agreement comes with $30MM in guarantees, per Schefter, who adds that incentives could elevate this deal to $52MM. The base value of the deal falls in line with those given to wideouts this summer. Allen Hurns, Keenan Allen and Doug Baldwin each signed extensions for four years and between $44-$46MM.
Austin has not delivered a season like the ones his new NFL tax-bracket peers have but serves as his team’s top receiving option and can contribute in more ways than the more traditional targets, thanks to his prowess out of the backfield and in the return game.
5:07pm: One of two players on whom the Rams picked up fifth-year options on this spring, Tavon Austin is expected to sign a contract extension with the team, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports (on Twitter).
The recently relocated franchise will keep its top receiver in Los Angeles for a while. A 2013 first-round pick, Austin recorded career highs in receptions (52), yards from scrimmage (907) and touchdowns (10) last season and saw the Rams trigger his fifth-year option in May. He stood to occupy $12.268MM of the Rams’ 2017 cap as part of that option being exercised. That total represents the seventh-highest among wide receivers for ’17.
The Rams, who also picked up Alec Ogletree‘s ’17 option, expressed desire to extend Austin earlier this year. But that came before picking up that $12MM+ option.
Although a 5-foot-9 gadget-type player, Austin serves as an integral part of the Rams’ offense — one that doesn’t have a traditional No. 1 wideout. Now that Jared Goff is in the fold, the team looks to have secured a key target for the No. 1 overall pick going forward. Austin also rushed for 434 yards last season and contributes heavily as a return specialist.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Beat: ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez On The Rams
With the season fast approaching, we’re chatting with beat writers from around the league to gain insight on each team’s offseason and how those moves will impact the season ahead.
Now, we continue the series by discussing the Rams with the team’s newest beat writer, Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com. You can follow Alden on Twitter @Alden_Gonzalez and check out his stories here.
Zach Links: For those of us who aren’t in the Los Angeles area – what’s the excitement level like in L.A. for the Rams’ return? 
Alden Gonzalez: It’s been about what you would expect for a team returning to a huge media market, and by that I mean it’s been high. They sold 171,000 tickets to their first two preseason games. That is absurd. Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith, who played at Los Angeles Coliseum in Week 2, raved about how loud it was through even the fourth quarter, when all the subs were in. And each open-to-the-public practice I’ve attended has filled up at least one section of bleachers. The novelty will eventually rub off, of course. They’ll have to win pretty quickly in order to maintain attention spans out here.
Zach Links: The Rams are expected to extend coach Jeff Fisher and GM Les Snead before the start of the season. Do you think it’s wise to extend them given that Fisher’s teams have gone 27-36-1 in the last four years?
Alden Gonzalez: Yeah, I do. I know it isn’t the popular opinion, but extending a GM or a coach does not mean that individual cannot eventually get fired. Especially not for a multi-billionaire like Rams owner Stan Kroenke, who would barely flinch at having to eat whatever remains of contracts for Snead or Fisher if such a scenario took place. Snead and Fisher are at the end of their current deals, and it’s hard to operate like that. The Rams have enough newness going on – new quarterback, new city, one of the youngest rosters in the NFL – and it looks like they at least want some stability up top. Snead and Fisher both know the pressure is on to start winning, whether their contracts are extended or not.
Zach Links: How high is the ceiling for Jared Goff? Do you think we’ll see him take over as the starter at some point in 2016?
Alden Gonzalez: I expect him to be the starter at some point in 2016; the only question is when. Barring an uplifting performance in Week 3 of the preseason, though, I do not see him starting the Monday Night Football opener on Sept. 12. He just hasn’t shown enough yet. He needs to be more decisive, he needs to take care of the football and he needs to do a better job of picking up blitzes. All that, in addition to learning to call plays from the huddle and learning to take snaps from under center – two things he really never did at Cal. As far as upside – I think he can be an elite-level passer if he irons those things out. The raw tools are there.
Zach Links: A second franchise tag for Trumaine Johnson would cost the Rams $16MM+ next year. To date, they have been unwilling to pay him like a top NFL cornerback. Do you expect to see Johnson wind up somewhere else in 2017?
Opinion: Case Keenum Should Be Rams' Starter
Case Keenum has performed well enough during the preseason to earn the Rams‘ starting quarterback job over No. 1 pick Jared Goff, argues Vincent Bosnignore of the Los Angeles Daily News. The duo’s stats aren’t all the different — Keenum has 10 of 13 attempts for 111 yards and a touchdown, while Goff is 12 of 21 for 121 yards, one score, and one interception — but Goff has struggled with snaps and penalties while Keenum has shown a command of the Los Angeles offense. Additionally, says Bonsignore in a few follow-up tweets, the Rams could be competitive in 2016 thanks to their defense and running game, so Keenum makes more sense for the club right now rather than Goff, who will need some time to develop.
Rams Sign Michael Caputo
- The Rams have signed safety Michael Caputo and waived/injured safety Brian Randolph, tweets Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times.
Rams Expected To Extend Fisher, Snead
SUNDAY, August 14: Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (Twitter links) adds a little more to this report, basically confirming that Kroenke is largely concerned with front office stability during this otherwise tumultuous time in franchise history. Cole says that there will be no “major changes” to the team’s brass until the Rams are ready to move into their new Inglewood stadium in 2019. That way, if Snead and Fisher continue to disappoint, the club can recharge its fanbase with a new stadium and a new staff.
SATURDAY, August 13: The Rams are expected to reach extensions with both general manager Les Snead and head coach Jeff Fisher before the season begins, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Deals with both decision-makers can be categorized as “likely,” Schefter adds.
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On the surface, news of extension talks are a bit surprising given the Rams’ lack of success under Fisher and Snead. In his four years at the helm of the Rams, Fisher’s teams have compiled a 27-36-1 record and have never gone .500 or better during an individual campaign. The Rams finished 7-9 last season during their St. Louis swan song, which was the third time they’ve won seven games under Fisher. However, after moving halfway across the country, owner Stan Kroenke apparently wants to ensure some stability going forward.
There’s no word yet on possible length or financial compensation for Fisher or Snead. Fisher is currently among the NFL’s highest-paid coaches at $7MM annually and almost certainly tops the league when it comes to dollars-per-win.
Prior to joining the Rams, Fisher experienced success atop the Titans organization, going 142-120 in 17 years and helping lead the club to six playoff appearances and a Super Bowl XXXIV berth to conclude the 1999-2000 season. Of course, Tennessee lost that game to Fisher’s present-day employer, the Rams.
Snead, meanwhile, got his start as a pro scout for the upstart Jaguars in 1995. In 1997, he took the same position with the Falcons while also serving as their director of pro/player personnel. Prior to the 2012 season, the Rams hired Snead after parting ways with Billy Devaney.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nick Foles Needed "Extra Coddling" With Rams
- When he was a member of the Rams in 2015, quarterback Nick Foles‘ need for “extra coddling” and “a lot of back-patting” became an annoyance to their staff, per Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). Given both that and Foles’ bottom-of-the-barrel performance last season, the Rams released the 27-year-old in July, but only after paying him a $6MM roster bonus in March and then failing to find a taker via trade. Foles ended up signing with Kansas City as a free agent.