St. Louis Rams Free Agents: Who Stays, Who Goes?

The St. Louis Rams have been in offseason mode now for a couple of weeks. While they haven’t had to make any difficult roster decisions as of yet, that time is coming.

The Rams are set to have 14 free agents and not a ton of cap space. In order to re-sign some of their players, they are also going to have to say goodbye to some as well.

Here is the list of the Rams’ free agents:

Unrestriced Free Agent: a player who is eligible to sign with any club or franchise

OT – Joe Barksdale

DT – Alex Carrington

OG – Davin Joseph

QB – Shaun Hill

TE – Lance Kendricks

WR – Kenny Britt

OL – Mike Person

LB – Will Herring

Restricted Free Agent: can negotiate with any club through a certain date. If the restricted free agent accepts an offer sheet from a new club, his old club has “right of first refusal,” a five-day period in which it may match the offer and retain him, or choose not to match the offer, in which case it may receive one or more draft picks for the upcoming draft from the player’s new club. If an offer sheet is not executed, the player’s rights revert to his old club the day after negotiations must end.

QB – Austin Davis

S – Rodney McLeod

C – Tim Barnes

Exclusive Rights Free Agent: an NFL player who is not under contract, but has only two years of NFL experience. If his former club makes him an offer at the three year veteran minimum salary, then that’s it, he has to take it or leave the NFL. These guys have no right to negotiate with other teams. They are “free” only in the sense that they’re free to quit.

TE – Cory Harkey

RB – Chase Reynolds

OL – Brandon Washington

Who Stays:

OT – Joe Barksdale

TE – Lance Kendricks

WR – Kenny Britt

QB – Austin Davis

S – Rodney McLeod

C – Tim Barnes

TE – Cory Harkey

RB – Chase Reynolds

OL – Brandon Washington

In order to bring these eight players back, the Rams are going to have to part ways with some players which I’ll get to in a minute, but these eight guys are players that the Rams should consider bringing back.

Barksdale, although he had a rough second half of the year, is still a solid right tackle when he’s not playing next to Davin Joseph. There is no question that the Rams will try to bring him back.

With Kendricks and Britt, I believe Kendricks is more on the edge of coming back, but there the Rams will give him some serious thought. He’s a good blocking tight end and is always making plays catching the ball as well. He leads the Rams with 13 touchdowns over the last three years which makes it worth keeping him around.

Cory Harkey is exactly the type of player that Jeff Fisher likes and he should be back. If the Rams dont bring back Kendricks, it will be because they believe in what Harkey can do.

Britt on the other hand was the first Rams receiver since Torry Holt to have more than 700 yards receiving and thats with Shaun Hill and Austin Davis throwing him the footall. He may not have earned a long term deal as of yet, but Jeff Fisher will make sure he comes back in Rams uniform.

Austin Davis will be brought back to compete for the starting quarterback spot if not at least the backup quarterback spot. However, dont be surprised if a team with a quarterback problem makes him an offer and the Rams let him walk.

While Rodney McLeod is a mediocre at best safety, he will give the Rams some good depth if they do decide to replace him this offseason.

The Rams have no depth on the offensive line and while Barnes may not be a starting center, he does give the team of depth.

Lastly, Chase Reynolds has been a solid special teams player and he will most likely be back in Rams uniform. Washington will also be a guy that is at least brought into camp.

Who Goes:

DT – Alex Carrington

OG – Davin Joseph

QB – Shaun Hill

OL – Mike Person

LB – Will Herring

C – Scott Wells

OT – Jake Long

DT – Kendall Langford

If the Rams cut Long, Wells, and Langford they would open up $17.75-million in cap space giving them enough to sign some of their own players as well as make a small splash in free agency.

Wells has been absolutely awful over the two seasons. Similar to Harvey Dahl last year, Wells isn’t worth what the Rams are paying him.

Long is coming off back to back torn ACL’s and simply wasn’t as good as he has been last year. If you remember correctly, it was Long who go beat in the preseason leading to Sam Bradford‘s injury. The Rams open up $8-million is cap space by cutting Long and will let their number two overall pick, Greg Robinson, take over.

Kendall Langford…The Rams drafted the PFWA defensive rookie of the year, enough said. Les Snead isn’t going to pay him $6-million to sit on the bench. If the Rams can’t trade him, they will cut him.

Aside from that, I have six players that the Rams will allow to walk. The Rams might bring back Carrington at a cheaper price to give them some depth of the defensive line, but if I have to decide now, I dont think Carrington is back.

Davin Joseph…Need I say anything about Joseph other than this.

Shaun Hill was an average solution to something that the Rams should have been better prepared for. Hill is 35 so I dont think he is going to be back.

Mike Person is another guy who is on the edge in my opinion. The Rams could bring him back for depth, but they need to get better on the offensive line and while Person is depth, he isn’t good depth.

The Rams have a lot to think about when it comes to free agency this season. Who do they cut? Who do they bring back? It will be a busy offseason at Rams Park as this team looks to take the next step.