Rams fans or even local officials looking for strong words of encouragement from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on the stadium lease situation didn't get them Friday.
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

INDIANAPOLIS — Add another name to the Rams' list of general manager candidates. Ron Hill, who has been with the NFL for six seasons as vice president of football operations, interviewed with the Rams
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

This ought to be music to Sam Bradford's ears. According to Jason LaCanfora of the NFL Network, the St. Louis Rams are expected to be in the bidding for San Diego Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson.

Naturally, the Rams will not be the only team involved in the bidding, assuming the Chargers let him slip away in free agency. LaCanfora also suggests the San Francisco 49ers as a possibility. The Bills have been mentioned in the past as a possible suitor.

Jackson played with the Chargers last year under the franchise tag. San Diego could slap him with the tag again, but the Chargers have said that they will not. Jackson's current team did indicate that they would be willing to sign him to a long-term deal.

This isn't the first time that Jackson, 29, and the Rams have danced. In 2010, the Rams reportedly had agreed to a contract with Jackson. Chargers GM A.J. Smith wanted too a high of a price in a trade, said to be two second-round picks.

Jackson caught 60 passes for 1,106 yards and nine touchdowns last season. Obviously, Jackson would be a major upgrade to the Rams offense. There is the little matter of his legal troubles, but Fisher has, in the past, been willing to take a chance of risky players.

If the Rams are willing to consider Jackson, they could be willing to kick the tires on other free agent wide receivers. Doing so would dramatically change their plans in the first-round of the 2012 NFL Draft.

Poll

Should the Rams consider Vincent Jackson?

• Yes
• No

  843 votes | Results

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

In a Thursday interview with Bob Costas , NFL Commissioner Rodger Goodell told the host that the league would most likely expand by two teams if they moved into the Los Angeles market.

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

SURREY, B.C. - B.C.-born kicker Paul McCallum had no intention of shopping his services.
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

BC Lions Jovan Olafioye is congratulated by a fan wearing the same number after the Lions win of the 2011 Grey Cup final between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the BC Lions in Vancouver November 27, 2011.

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

Help us figure out what exactly Kitty Ratcliffe of the CVC really told Rams COO Kevin Demoff
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

Sorry, Los Angeles. The only NFL expansion happening anytime soon is to next season's schedule of Thursday night games.


add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Pro Football Writer
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

ESPN's Todd McShay released his second mock draft of the year and had some surprising choices in the top five.

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

INDIANAPOLIS — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell spoke for nearly 50 minutes on a number of topics on Friday...
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

By Len Pasquarelli INDIANAPOLIS - In his 13 NFL seasons, New England tailback Kevin Faulk, who might be playing in his final game in Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday evening, can't recall exactly how many concussions he has suffered.
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

A capsule look at the finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

Who wants free burritos from Chipotle for their Super Bowl party?

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

Good afternoon. I had originally planned on doing the balloting system through email but the response wasn't great. I sincerely thank those that took the time to do the email balloting, but I decided to use a polling system like 3k is using for the Rams' team needs to make it more convenient for our readers to vote.

Now in order to do this, I am going to have to move on from the points system, where ballots included a first, second and third place choice and I'll use the overall popular vote to determine the winner.

Also by popular request, Brandon Lloyd has been added to the candidates along with James Laurinaitis, Chris Long and Steven Jackson.

Again, I'm sorry for the individuals who sent me an e-mail with their ballot. I want to thank you for the extra effort you put forth.

So finally, here's the poll!! Vote and the results will be up soon!!

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

The St. Louis Rams general manager search continues. Head coach Jeff Fisher said on Thursday that the team hopes to have their new GM, along with the rest of the coaching staff, hired by the end of next week. The team interviewed another candidate this week, former Falcons exec Ron Hill, according to COO Kevin Demoff appearing in an interview with 101 ESPN.

Who is Ron Hill? In short, he's the guy that engineered the trade for Michael Vick when he was the vice president of player personnel. The team fired him citing redundancy in 2005, after they hired Rich McKay as GM.

Hill ran the Falcons' drafts from 2001 to 2003. In his first year with that responsibility, he swapped Atlanta's fifth overall pick in exchange for the Chargers' first overall pick, throwing in a third-round pick that year, a second-rounder in 2002 and Tim Dwight. He's a wheeler-dealer.

Most recently, Hill worked in the league's operations office. Fisher spent last season working with the league's competition committee.

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

NFL Commissioner Rodger Goodell delivered his annual state of the league address in Indianapolis on Friday. Goodell delivered plenty information that will be of interest to the St. Louis Rams and their fans. He even touched on London, Los Angeles, etc. He also said that every team in the league will be playing in prime time for the 2012 season, even the Rams.

That's being made possible by the decision to expand the Thursday night package to 13 games, starting in Week 2. Every team will get at least one Thursday night game.

The good news for non-Rams fans is that so few people get the NFL Network ... and that's what this issue is really about for the league. By making this announcement, the NFL is putting some pressure, lots of pressure, on Time Warner and Cablevision, the two largest cable providers not currently offering NFL Network. More importantly, those two providers cover some of the biggest markets in the US, including much of the East Coast.

This also positions the league to sell the broadcasting rights for another prime time package of games, expected to be eight games. That could fetch the league around a billion dollars.

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

In a Thursday interview with Bob Costas, NFL Commissioner Rodger Goodell told the host that the league would most likely expand by two teams if they moved into the Los Angeles market. He also told Costas that the league wants to keep teams where they are. In his Friday press conference in Indianapolis, Goodell recited similar talking points in relation to the St. Louis Rams, but softened his stance on the expansion talk.

Specifically, Goodell said that the league has not discussed expansion. He added that he doesn't see expansion happening in the foreseeable future, but did note a ten-year window to make something happen for the NFL in LA.

Naturally, that led to questions about LA and the Rams. Goodell said that the NFL does indeed want to go back to sunny Southern California and the country's second-largest media market. However, he also said that it was a balancing act, according to Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal.

The commissioner did reiterate his talking point that the league wants to keep teams where they are. That said, the NFL isn't above using open spots in Los Angeles to give teams leverage in favorable stadium deals. So the commish didn't blow all of Stan Kroenke's leverage in Dome talks with the CVC.

Asked about the Rams specifically by Jim Thomas at the PD, Goodell said, "we'd love to have the St. Louis Rams stay in St. Louis."

Goodell said the same thing in an interview with Bernie Miklasz of the PD on Thursday.

Like most, I go back and forth on this issue everyday. Today, I return to my gut feeling that all of it is a leverage play for Stan Kroenke and the Rams to get a sweet deal to stick around in Missouri or maybe even suburban Illinois ... with more than a little help from the public trough.

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

NFL Commissioner Rodger Goodell addressed the issues surrounding the St. Louis Rams and their decision to surrender a home game in each of the next three seasons for a game in London. He also made it quite clear that the league wants the Rams to play in the UK as part of their three-game deal.

"We're going to play the London games," Goodell said. "We hope it will be with the Rams and the New England Patriots next year. That's what we planned. I think it's great for the city of St. Louis to be able to get that global exposure, but there are issues that are going to have to get resolved."

Fans in the city of St. Louis had a more mixed feeling about the games overseas. The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission is definitely not a fan of the idea, noting that the team is in violation of their lease by playing a home game at Wembley Stadium.

As first-reported on TST yesterday, ticket sales for the UK game have been suspended. They have to resume as of Friday. Ticket sales for that game are handled by the NFL directly, actually by their subsidiary NFL UK. A representative from the Rams ticket office told TST that technical difficulties resulted in the delay. But the vagueness of from NFL UK and Goodell's statements make it sound as though ticket sales are suspended while those "issues" get resolved.

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

Earlier this week, Dan Kadar at Mocking the Draft rolled out his post-Senior Bowl 2012 NFL mock draft. Unlike so many others, there were the St. Louis Rams sitting comfortably in the number two spot in the first round. It's almost assumed that the Rams will trade that pick to a team hungry for a franchise quarterback in Robert Griffin III. That's a very distinct possibility. But Dan's pick for the Rams presents something of a dilemma for the team in developing their franchise quarterback, Sam Bradford.

The pick in Dan's draft is Matt Kalil, OT, USC.

Here's what Dan says about the pick:

The Rams will be taking several phone calls to trade out of this pick. While adding picks would be nice for the Rams, having a franchise left tackle is the most important piece this team can add. If the Rams trade down to a team wanting Robert Griffin III, they won't be able to get a player as good as Kalil. That's what the Rams will be choosing between. If they want Sam Bradford to develop, they need Kalil more than anything else. He would start at left tackle with Rodger Saffold shifting to the right side.

Kalil is considered by most one of the best young left tackles in the draft since Jake Long. He's easily the best pass blocker in the draft, and a ready-made starter on the left side in the NFL.

Where Kalil still needs work is as a run blocker, using power to push defenders off the line and out of the way. Some of the draft's other tackles have him beat in that department, Iowa's Riley Reiff for instance, but Kalil has the talent to develop that part of his game.

But here's the dilemma for the Rams: which is more important in getting Sam Bradford over the hump, a cornerstone left tackle or a true #1 wide receiver like Justin Blackmon?

Head coach Jeff Fisher was pretty clear that protecting the quarterback will be a top priority for his Rams. Brian Schottenheimer said the same thing.

Trading down wouldn't rule out the Rams getting other tackles, but none of the other would have the kind of instant impact that Kalil would ... maybe Reiff, but he's probably a top ten pick, creating the same dilemma if the Rams trade down with Washington or Cleveland.

What do you think?

Poll

Which player in the 2012 NFL Draft is more important for Sam Bradford in 2012 and beyond?

• Matt Kalil, OT, USC
• Justin Blackmon, WR, Oklahoma State

  847 votes | Results

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

This week, in which the New England Patriots did not make offensive-coordinator-in-waiting Josh McDaniels available to the media, further accentuated how critical it is for the NFL to close the loophole which currently permits a coach to move from one franchise to another before...
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

The NFL has already announced that the St. Louis Rams will host the New England Patriots for a regular-season...
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

Among all the many things that makes Tom Brady such a great quarterback, perhaps the most valuable and overlooked trait is his ability to change schemes through his career, master those different concepts, and keep playing at an elite level. … Continue reading →
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

He says NFL doesn't want Rams to leave St. Louis ... but, the lease terms are the lease terms.
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

Rams coach: 'I promise you this. We will not be picking second again. This is the last time...'
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged today that there are potential problems between the Rams and St.

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

Our panel is divided between Brady/Belichick and the Giants front four.
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

On Wednesday, Feb. 1, the St. Louis Rams received a proposal for a $124 million overhaul of the Edward Jones Dome. If the Rams and the city can't come to an agreement on the stadium, then the team can leave St. Louis following the 2014 season.
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

Louis Convention and Visitors Commission has proposed a $124-million improvement plan for the Edward Jones Dome to keep the Rams in St.

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

The CVC made their pitch for fixing up the Edward Jones Dome on Wednesday. With a $124 million price tag attached to the plan, they delivered it to the St.

add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl

The money could come partly from higher fees for tickets and parking.
add to del.icio.us. look up in del.icio.us.   add to furl