Breaking News: Jairus Byrd Signs With Saints, Verner To Tampa Bay

Oct 27, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; Buffalo Bills free safety Jairus Byrd (31) breaks up a pass to New Orleans Saints wide receiver Marques Colston (12) during the first half of a game at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

In a matter of literally minutes, Rams fans hearts sank, as two of the biggest targets for the Rams in free agency fell off the board. The New Orleans Saints announced late Tuesday night that they had come to terms with safety Jairus Byrd on a 6-year deal worth $54 millionand cornerback Alterraun Verner came to terms with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who’s deal is worth approximately $6 million per year according to Jason La Canfora.

Earlier in the day the Rams also missed out on signing guard Geoff Schwartz who chose to sign with the New York Giants and guard Rodger Saffold left for Oakland. For the first time in the Les Snead and Jeff Fisher era, the Rams seem to be losing in free agency.

How hard the Rams were targeting these players is uncertain, but we do know the Rams were interested in Byrd, Verner, and Schwartz and they have to be somewhat disappointed that they couldn’t land either of these players.

Who the Rams are planning on targeting now, is a mystery, and it looks more and more like they are just going to have to have a stellar draft and fill their holes that way. With nine picks in a fairly deep upcoming draft, doing just that is definitely possible.

The Rams were pretty quiet on the first day of free agent signing and will have a lot of work ahead of them throughout the rest of the big free agent period up until the draft.