Aug 25, 2012; Arlington, TX, USA; St Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson on the sidelines during the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Cowboys Stadium. The Cowboys beat the Rams 20-19. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

Since Rambin’ Fan already broke down the Rams’ talent through their  position,  through their age and the college they attended, and their draft position, we are going to switch to the contract situations for the active players. We all know that Chris Long recently got his contract extension to stick with the St. Louis Rams for the next 4 years. We also know that the Rams are currently working on an extension for another pillar of our defense, James Laurinaitis. Here is a breakdown of the rest Rams whose contracts are expiring following the 2012 and 2013 season.

The contract situation:

On the 53-man roster, there are 18 players whose contracts are currently set to expire at the conclusion of the 2012 season. A good number of those are players signed to one-year, incentive filled contracts in hopes that they can contribute to the Rams, names like WR Steve Smith and LB Rocky McIntosh. On the other hand, there are some key players whose extensions may rest solely on their performance this year. Here is the list of starters and other notable players whose contracts end in 2012: RT Barry Richardson, OLB Rocky McIntosh and Mario Haggan, FB Brit Miller, S Craig Dahl and Darian Stewart , CB Bradley Fletcher, WR Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson. The most important name on that list, other than James Laurinaitis, is Bradford’s favorite target, Danny Amendola. Luckily, there have already been talks that the St. Louis Rams front office is working with Amendola to have his contract extended, meaning the Rams won’t have to go through what the New England Patriots are with Wes Welker or the Pittsburgh Steelers with Mike Wallace.

In 2013, there are a number of other key players whose contracts will be ending, including TE Michael Hoomanawanui, LT Rodger Saffold, OLB Jo-Lonn Dunbar, and RB Steven Jackson. These next two years will be big in terms of keeping the staples of the offense and defensive together. With Amendola, Jackson, Saffold, and Laurinaitis all marked for free agency in the next two years, it will be important for the front office to work diligently throughout the season to find the money for the extensions. However, that also means that the other starters 14-18 starters (depending on if you refer to Brandon Gibson, Craig Dahl, or the fill-in offensive line crew as starters) are locked up for the foreseeable future.

Other Ramblin’ facts:

• The average weight among the starters on the offensive line is 310 lbs, while the average weight for the defensive line is 286 lbs.
• The St. Louis Rams have attained players from the following teams since the preseason began: New York Jets (RT Wayne Hunter and RB Terrance Greenway), Buffalo Bills (DT Kellen Beard), Kansas City Chiefs (LB Justin Cole), Indianapolis Colts (TE Mike McNeill), Oakland Raiders (DT Mason Brodine)
• The Rams have multiple players from a number of different colleges: Virginia (3), Clemson (2), Illinois (2), Ohio St. (2), and South Carolina (2)
• When the roster is broken down into three fundamental parts, there are 24 offensive players, 26 defensive players, and 3 special teams players
• The three special teams players are LS Jake McQuaide, P Johnny Hekker, and K Greg “the Leg” Zuerlein. Of the three players, the punter is easily the largest player, measuring in at 6’5 tall and 227 pounds. All three player are under the age of 25
• The tallest player on the team is DT Matt Conrath at 6’7 tall, while the shortest player is S Quinton Pointer at 5’9 tall
• The heaviest player on the team is DT Kellen Beard weighing in at 355 lbs., easily outweighing Rok Watkins who is at 338 lbs.
• The lightest players is CB Rodney McLeod weighing 180 lbs., only slightly less than Danny Amendola at 183 lbs. and Cortland Finnegan at 188 lbs.

Apr 26, 2012; New York, NY, USA; Michael Brockers (LSU) is introduced as the number fourteen overall pick to the St. Louis Rams in the 2012 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

Aside from the college they attended, another way of judging talent is through the player’s draft position. Although drafting is clearly not an exact science, with Jason Smith as a prime example, position in the draft is typically a good indication of, at least, the raw talent that a player possess. For the most part, you would like to see such a young roster filled with a good percentage of  upper tier draft choice, specially Rounds 1 through 3. Here is a breakdown of the the all 59 players original draft positions:

St. Louis Rams drafting:

Of course, the number of undrafted players is going to be skewed by the inclusion of the practice squad players, most of which are undrafted free agents from the Rams or cuts from other teams. There are also a large number of undrafted players that come with any head coaching change, typically wanted more players that fit their specific personnel profile than are available in the first 7 rounds of the draft. This current roster is a good representation of that, with 6 players on the 53-man roster that went undrafted in this years draft alone, including DT Matt Conrath, CB Rodney McLeod and Quinton Pointer, S Matt Daniels, QB Austin Davis, and P Johnny Hekker. Add in the 9 players that were actually taken in the draft this year, excluding LB Aaron Brown who made the practice squad, and 28 percent of the active roster was playing on a college team last season.

As previously mentioned, you would like see a good portion of your roster coming from the earlier rounds. The St. Louis Rams have a fair number of first through third round players (17), making up roughly 32 percent of the roster. More impressively, is that all of our first rounder were actually drafted by the Rams, including Steven Jackson (2004), Chris Long (2008), Sam Bradford (2010), Robert Quinn (2011), and Michael Brockers (2012). Sadly, first rounders by the names of Tye Hill, Adam Carriker, and Jason Smith all fell between Jackson and Brockers, but a franchise running back, quarterback, and essentially an entire starting defensive line more than make up for those misses.

Aside from the overwhelming number of undrafted free agents, it is also typical for a new head coach to rout the team of old players who were selected by the previous regime(s). As previously mentioned, a quarter of the current team was drafted this year, but how many players are left from the dreaded Linehan and Spagnuolo eras? The Answer: There are currently 10 players left from who were drafted under Spags, but only 5 are starters, including Sam Bradford, James Laurinaitis, Lance Kendricks, Robert Quinn, and Rodger Saffold. Only one player remains from the Linehan era, which, of course, was 2008 second overall pick Chris Long. On a happier note, if you can remember back to the GSOT day, there is still one player on the roster left from the Mike Martz era, Steven Jackson.

If you did not check out the previous breakdowns of the roster by position click here or the breakdown by age and college click here. Tomorrow we will breakdown the roster by the players contract situation, as well as a couple of other random facts.

Dec 12, 2011; Seattle, WA, USA; St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford (8) takes the snap from center Max Unger (60) at the line of scrimmage against Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Brandon Mebrane (92) at CenturyLink Field. The Seahawks defeated the Rams 30-13. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Analyzing a football team during the preseason is a hard task, especially when that involved trying to run through numbers from 90 players, one-third of which will be cut before the first regular season game. Now that the St. Louis front office has whittled down the roster to a 53 active players and 6 practice squad players, we can more easily crunch some of the numbers. Over the next four days we are going to breakdown the roster in a number of key areas, the first is by position:

Position Breakdown:

Although this table does not tell you the caliber of player at each position, it can tell you a number of things about the offensive and defensive schemes that the St. Louis Rams plan on running this season. The Rams roster is right on average with the typical NFL team in a majority of categories, but is low on the quarterback, offensive lineman, and linebacker units. Those extra roster spots are being filled with an extra tight end and defensive linemen. The extra tight end is conducive of the Scottenheimer offensive system, which revolves around the run game and short intermediate passes. That means we will be seeing a fair number of quick slants from the wide outs and flat routes from the tight ends. It also means will we likely see an above average number of play action, lining up in a power run formation with 2 TE sets and faking it to Jackson out of the backfield. The extra spots are being filled by Matthew Mulligan and Mike McNeill, who are primarily blocking tight ends that were brought in through the offseason through free agency, alongside Lance Kendrick and Michael Hoomanawanui on the line.

The extra defensive linemen on the roster are due to the injury front that rampaged through the position during the final week of the preseason. With Brockers, Laws, Sims, and Scott all currently nursing injuries, more linemen are needed on the roster simply for depth and to keep the rotation fresh. Aside from the names that were just mentioned, a good number of the current roster will likely get moved around, which we have already seen this with the sign and release of Vernon Gholston This also led to the recent acquisition of Kellen Heard from Buffalo.

The injuries to the defensive line may have also been a factor in the release of Kellen Clemens, leaving Sam Bradford and UDFA Austin Davis as the only quarterbacks on the roster. More than likely, the Rams will end up picking up a veteran back off of waivers before the start of the regular season, but roster spots are air tight as they are so it will be interesting to see where they will cut to make room.

Tomorrow we will breakdown the roster by age, as well as the colleges and conferences the players attended…