Rams S O.J. Atogwe, a restricted free agent, insists he will not sign his one-year, $1.226 tender in the hopes of landing a long-term deal. This would force the Rams to offer him a one-year, $7 million guaranteed contract by June 1 or allow him to become an unrestricted free agent.

Atogwe, who missed the final four games of last season, would be a hot commodity if he becomes free. According to the NFL Network, the Bears, Dolphins, Cowboys and Jaguars all would be in on the bidding for Atogwe, who turns 29 in June. ...

OJ is looking for a long term deal, and I am not sure Miami is looking toward FA for a long term fix at FS. If he is willing to come aboard on a 1 or 2 year deal while Clemons continues to develop, I'd be very interested. But I doubt he settles for that.



http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/The_Tr ... ms_on_deal

Personally I don't see us really looking at Atogwe. I think the answer this regime is looking for is on our roster already. Atogwe doesn't have to sign his tender and the Rams can actually pay him the 7mil if they want to thanks to the uncapped year. This actually benefits Atogwe, if he stays put he gets 7mil in one year, 7 times what he would make with the tender. If he does well then maybe he gets the deal he's looking for. If he doesn't, he just made 7mil in one year. To me that says stay put.

He's gonna be 29 before the season starts, which means if he's franchised he can't sign a new deal untill he's 30 with another team. The best bet for him is to go beyond june 1st and become unrestricted. I don't see it as highly likely that Rams will pay him 7 mill, they paid ham 6 something last year on a similar deal.

I read an interesting piece over on FinHeaven suggesting that if we sign Procter (as I see wee did) it opens the door for Grove's departure, which would free up enough (imaginary) cap space to make a move for Atogwe. It sounded interesting enough to kick around until June 1st..

The first part makes sense. Getting rid of Grove (a dumb signing in my opinion) would definitely be nice after shipping Smiley. Should Miami ship out Grove as well they will have done a great job of shrugging off dead cap space before it actually hurts them.
Highest paid LT, RT, and WR and second highest paid ILB could constrain Miami, so freeing up space now is wise. Moving Grove for Atogwe, however, doesn't make sense. They have 2 young FS right now competing, why bring in a veteran with a hefty salary?

I am pretty sure that Jake and Vernon are no longer the highest paid at their respective positions. Also.. Marshall is not the highest paid WR. Fitzgerald is.

Well you'd be wrong on all three accounts. Marshall is tied with Fitzgerald, both making 10 million a year.

Many of you have wondered how and why the Miami Dolphins could have made Brandon Marshall the highest-paid receiver in NFL history. The easy answer, as we pointed out the other day, is that they didn't -- his widely-reported four-year, $47.5 million extension fairly should be regarded at best as a five-year, $50 million contract, giving Marshall a $10 million annual average that matches the yearly total paid to Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald.

Now for the truth.

For starters, the full contract is worth $47.3 million over five years. It contains a phony $2.7 million roster bonus payable in 2014 -- but only if Marshall participates in 95 percent or more of the Dolphins' special teams plays in 2010.

Why would this be included? To allow Marshall and his agent to characterize the contract as a package worth $10 million per year. Truth be told, it's worth $9.46 million annually.

(That may not seem like much of a difference, but the phantom roster bonus allows Marshall and his agent, Kennard McGuire, to claim with a straight face that Marshall is getting $10 million per year.)

Then there's the notion that the Dolphins would pay $24 million in guaranteed money to a guy with a history of off-field incidents. Surely, V.P. of football operations Bill Parcells hasn't lost his mind, right?

He hasn't. (Or, more accurately, if he has, this isn't proof of it.)

With the 2009 decision in the Plaxico Burress grievance that signing bonus money can be recovered only if the player holds out or retires, a $20 million signing bonus would have been untouchable, even if Marshall had been suspended for a year or longer. So the Dolphins instead have paid out a signing bonus of $5.5 million. Coupled with a guaranteed base salary (for skill and injury) of $4 million in 2010, Marshall's contract has a minimum value of $9.5 million over one year.

Here's the kicker. If the Dolphins decide before April 2, 2011 that Marshall isn't who they thought he was, they can walk away, possibly without paying Marshall another penny. Prior to April 2, 2011, he has only $3 million in future guaranteed money that already has been unlocked. But the contract contains offset language; if they cut him and someone else pays him $3 million in 2011, the Dolphins are off the hook for the balance of the contract.

And even if the Dolphins pay a $3 million option bonus due on April 2, 2011, guaranteed base salaries of $6.5 million in 2011 and $6 million in 2012 (he also has $3 million in non-guaranteed base pay in 2012) can be nullified if Marshall is suspended by the league.

So, for now, the only guaranteed money is $12.5 million, with an offset for up to $3 million. If the Dolphins decided to keep him past April 2, 2011, another $9.5 million in guaranteed base salaries will be available -- as long as Marshall stays out of trouble.

These facts are another reason why it's always dangerous to accept at face value the numbers that the player's camp begins to parrot as soon as the deal is signed.

Where the heck did all the hate for Jake Grove come from all of a sudden?? Geesh...

Where the heck did all the hate for Jake Grove come from all of a sudden?? Geesh...

Guess I am right on 2 accounts. Darn those pesky facts..

I don't understand how either of those links proves anything. Should Marshall "stay out of trouble" and play, he is the highest paid WR...tied with Larry Fitzgerald. That list has Vernon Carey as top paid RT, and Jake Long as top paid LT.....

I also don't understand how Jason Peters can have the best contract when he had no signing bonus, and only 4k in incentives. Jake Long has 1.5 million in bonuses.

Can anybody else get in on this, because clearly hypocritiex is extremely confused or I am.

I am pretty sure that Jake and Vernon are no longer the highest paid at their respective positions. Also.. Marshall is not the highest paid WR. Fitzgerald is.

Where the heck did all the hate for Jake Grove come from all of a sudden?? Geesh...

Clearly you are not looking at their total salaries (Which includes MOST importantly their base salaries).

Why does it matter? You're arguing minutia.

The fact is all three guys have huge, cap prohibitive contracts.

Brown, Jason Rams $ 4,000,000 $ 11,000,000 $ 7,150 $ 15,007,150 $ 6,207,150
Carey, Vernon Dolphins $ 800,000 $ 12,000,000 $ 2,200,000 $ 15,000,000 $ 5,400,000
Grove, Jake Dolphins $ 2,000,000 $ 12,000,000 $ 200,000 $ 14,200,000 $ 4,600,000
Staley, Joe 49ers $ 460,000 $ 0 $ 12,217,280 $ 12,677,280 $ 13,527,280
Starks, Max Steelers $ 1,400,000 $ 8,000,000 $ 2,006,240 $ 11,406,240 $ 5,406,240
Peters, Jason Eagles $ 10,500,000 $ 0 $ 4,680 $ 10,504,680 $ 12,704,680
Gross, Jordan Panthers $ 5,000,000 $ 5,000,000 $ 5,980 $ 10,005,980 $ 6,005,980
Colombo, Marc Cowboys $ 1,342,059 $ 0 $ 8,107,280 $ 9,449,339 $ 2,699,339
Saturday, Jeff Colts $ 1,500,000 $ 7,450,000 $ 4,160 $ 8,954,160 $ 3,987,493
Long, Jake Dolphins $ 6,500,000 $ 0 $ 1,506,240 $ 8,006,240 $ 9,606,240

The bolded are their total salaries last year.

Regardless, Miami has 3 of the top 10 highest paid offensive linemen, the highest paid WR, second highest paid ILB, and before it's all said and done Vontae Davis, Chad Henne, and Sean Smith will want new deals when they become "superstars."

Regardless, Miami has 3 of the top 10 highest paid offensive linemen, the highest paid WR, second highest paid ILB, and before it's all said and done Vontae Davis, Chad Henne, and Sean Smith will want new deals when they become "superstars."

I don't get it. Grove has the skills and attitude to anchor this offensive line. You do not get rid of a top 5 center in the NFL. Give him another year to see if he can play a full season. His body isn't shot.

Rams S Otogwe, he had reconstructive shoulder surgery after season and is fighting sporrts hernia, accord'ng to sources.

He's really banged up, which explains the lack of interest in Atogwe to this point. Still, it's likely to pick up shortly. Teams like the Dolphins, Cowboys, Bears, and Jaguars could all use a play-making free safety.

Do the Dolphins even know he is banged up? I mean, they didn't for Marshall (supposedly). Either way, he'd be a huge upgrade and nice veteran presence. Even if we only kept him for a year or two and traded him if/when Clemons is ready to take over, it would be worth it. Time to add those pieces to the draft picks.

I think Reshad Jones is being groomed to take over for Yeremiah Bell at SS.

You mean Reshad Jones is ready to take over ;) Jones will beat out Clemons. Maybe not this year. But, in the end. JMO.

I disagree. . he was working at FS with Clemons at the last OTA's. While Culver worked behind YB at SS. I think he will be a FS. Just because the guy can hit doesn't make em a SS. He's a very rangy athlete.

I don't think he's going to "take over" meaning win the starting job. I think they will give Clemons every possible chance to prove himself. As far as the future, Jones is supremely talented and was a steal IMO. That being said, he is a rookie and hasn't played a down.