I had a hell of a day at work today, so this post is going to be unusually short so I can get some sleep. There were some goings on at Rams Park today, so I wanted to make sure everyone was updated on what happened. First, the team has signed veteran DT Chris Hovan to a deal. This obviously isn’t earth-shattering by any means, but I have no problem with getting some cheap veteran depth on the defense. He said in an interview today that he is going to come in and fight for a job, but he also knows that it will be important for him to be a mentor to the younger players. Like I said, not a huge impact signing, but also not a bad one.

My boy Mardy Gilyard was in camp today, and apparently he and Sam Bradford have become quick buddies. Gilyard and Bradford have reportedly been talking on the phone for the last few weeks, and both rookies stayed after practice to get more work in together. I wonder what those phone conversations were like. I can just see Bradford saying something like, “I just love talking to you Mardy. I haven’t talked on the phone this much since I was in high school.”  Gilyard has been working out in Cincy since the draft, but he will still have some catching up to do now that he is in town.

Now for the bad news… OT Jason Smith missed the afternoon session with a toe injury. He has been dealing with this ailment for some time, and apparently he irritated it during the morning session. He went to the hospital for an MRI earlier today, and when I hear the results I will pass it on to you wonderful folks. I’m not hitting the panic button on this by any means, but I will say that I’m at least a little nervous.