Here’s the thing about this symposium. It’s a voluntary thing, so it will be interesting to see how many of the drafted rookies show up. In the past, attendance was nearly perfect, and those who didn’t show up were fined by the league. It will be interesting to see what the rookies do here. I hope the Rams’ draftees take the chance to go to this thing, because all joking aside, I think it is pretty important. These guys need to hear from veterans of the league how to handle themselves and their finances once they become a part of the NFL. My guess would be that most players will show up since they don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with their respective organizations, especially since they don’t have contracts yet, but we will just have to see.

I like to try to stay positive when at all possible, but this is going to be the bad news version of Ramblin’ Fan. It’s not terrible news, but it certainly isn’t good. “Former” Rams’ safety OJ Atogwe made a visit to Washington DC to meet with the Redskins. Atogwe left DC without signing a deal, so I guess that’s something to be happy about. I wouldn’t expect Atogwe to sign any kind of deal before the CBA expires, but I have to say this visit makes me nervous. The fact that it’s the Redskins involved only makes it worse, because it’s no secret that Daniel Snyder and Co. aren’t afraid to open up the checkbook if there’s a player out there they like. Atogwe says all the right things, but you  know he would welcome any kind of long-term deal at this point. I would hate to see in with another team, so hopefully the Rams do something about this before it is too late.

In another piece of bad news, the Minnesota Vikings put the franchise tag on outside linebacker Chad Greenway this week. I love Greenway as a player, and I was really hoping the Rams would make a hard push to get him this offseason. I am taking this one pretty hard, but I can’t say it’s a shock that the Vikings slapped the tag on him. He’s a very good player, and they would have been foolish to let him go. Looks like we have to look elsewhere out OLB help.