NFL St Louis

Think how much better it is to get picked 252nd in the NFL draft than 251st. The 251st player is just some guy struggling to make a roster. But the 252nd -- and last -- player chosen in the draft is Mr. Irrelevant.

This year's Mr. Irrelevant, former Idaho linebacker David Vobora, will try to make the St. Louis Rams' roster in a few weeks, but right now he's enjoying perks like a visit to the Playboy Mansion. He talks about it in an interview with the Idaho Statesman:

Q: Can you describe what your trip to the Playboy Mansion was like for those of us who probably won't ever get the chance to experience it for ourselves?

A: In the simplest terms - it was a slice of heaven. The mansion was awesome. We got to go for Hef's movie night. He likes on Friday nights to watch old black and white movies. The playmates toured us around. We got to see the famous grotto and spend some time at the mansion, which was beautiful. Everyone wants to go to the mansion for the girls, and we got to meet "The Girls Next Door" and take pictures with them. It was great to spend time with them and Hef.

Somewhere, 251st overall pick Kennard Cox is cursing the Bills for drafting him.

Terrence Holt, Torry Holt's brother, insists Torry wasn't joking when he said he'd like to finish his career with his brother in Carolina when his contract with the Rams is up in two years. Yeah, no kidding.

I think more than joking, I think he was just realistic about where he's at in his contract and in his career," he said. "He has two years left on his deal, and I don't think he said anything out of the realm of what could happen.

Terrence goes on to defend Torry's talk of returning home -- both Holt brothers grew up in North Carolina and played at N.C. State -- by bringing up the brutal honesty and lack of loyalty that teams display. That's all well and good, when Torry's contract is up he's free to go anywhere he wants or say anything he wants about the Rams.

That isn't the issue. The issue is that Holt has a commitment to the Rams right now. And for all of the work he's put in for them, they've rewarded him handsomely. It's not right of him to continue to daydream about something two years down the line (who knows what can happen in that time?) when he's got a season to prepare for. Terrence especially notes that "He's actually been up here a few times and is beginning to fall in love with the area."

This all seems like far more than just cursory preparation. And I still think that if the Rams, and Holt in particular, are not successful this year, he's setting himself up for some hostility both in the locker room and the city itself.

Last offseason, the Rams let slot receiver Kevin Curtis sign with Philadelphia but thought that they had covered their tracks by signing Drew Bennett (because, as we all know, white receivers are all exactly the same). That turned out to be, uh, not so smart -- Curtis had 1,110 yards and six touchdowns, Bennett had 375 and three.

Of course, the situations they were in played a part in that discrepancy -- it's naive to think Curtis would have had such a great season if he stayed in St. Louis -- but Bennett just isn't a very good player. He's still living off the reputation the briefly-prolific Billy Volek-Bennett connection produced, when the duo caught fire towards the end of the 2004 season, but you don't see anyone arguing for Volek as a legitimate starting quarterback. Other than that aberration, Bennett is an average third option who routinely sits near the bottom of the league in catch percentage.

Which is why it makes perfect sense that the Rams handed him a starting job this season. Actually, it's a promotion borne out of necessity, as the team doesn't have any other viable option opposite of Torry Holt. Bennett is saying all the right things about bouncing back, but I'm dubious. Sure, I expect the offense to be better, but with Holt's knee deteriorating the team doesn't have a receiver to draw attention from Bennett.

Maybe he doubles his numbers from last year, which is a step in the right direction, but falling in line with his career thus far -- serviceable, yet wholly overrated.

Chip Rosenbloom disputed a report by Michael Silver that the Rams are up for sale and maybe headed out of St. Louis, saying, "We are not shopping the team." It's in Rosenbloom's best interest currently to say that, but I believe him. Sort of.

Forgive me while I mince words. I don't believe Rosenbloom literally -- Silver is better than to pull a Tomase on this scoop. The new owners have at least looked for interested buyers. I just think they haven't found any.

First, there's all of this CBA uncertainty (you may not've heard about it, it's sort of flying under the radar). Forbes estimated the value of the Rams' franchise at $908 million. Though I'm sure peace will be brokered before all hell breaks loose, I'm also not willing to bet $908 million on it, and I don't think any potential buyers are either. That investment doesn't make sense when the league's fiscal forecast can be much different in a couple of years.

And besides a roster, coaching, and front office overturn that can happen as soon as '09, the team can opt out of its lease with the Edward Jones Dome in 2015 (not 2012) if it is not considered one of the top eight stadiums in the league (which it will not be). By that time, Los Angeles will probably be occupied, leaving upgrades to the Dome (at hundreds of millions of dollars) or a new stadium in St. Louis as the only viable options. That's a choice I'm not sure many owners are going to want for a team whose local support is already dwindling, especially if the economy hasn't turned itself around by then.

So no, I don't see the Rams being sold -- until these uncertainties crystallize, anyway. 'Til then, Rosenbloom's words are merely spin control.

Despite what we may have been led to believe, new St. Louis Rams owners Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez have put the team they inherited from Georgia Frontiere up for sale. The duo indicated that they were dedicated to keeping the team in the family, yet we're still months from their first training camp as owners and the sign is already up on the lawn.

A few parties have expressed interest in buying the team, including Eddie DeBartolo, who used to own the division rival 49ers. But there's an interesting "B" plot to all of this -- Los Angeles.

It's natural for relocation to be at least a passing issue whenever new ownership is up in the air, but with the development plans for a new stadium, a history between the team and city (it was Frontiere who moved the Rams from L.A. in the first place), and a team lease with the Edward Jones Dome that lasts only until 2012, any potential suitor is going to have to address his/her long term plans for the team.

This is actually good news for the team and its current owners -- by all accounts it was clear that Rosenbloom and Rodriguez were ill-prepared to run a team; having a proven owner like DeBartolo would be a great add. It's the fans in St. Louis, as is always the case, who are dealt the short straw, having to sit through this entire process wondering whether the expiration date on their team is 2012.

Of course, the league will probably collapse on itself like a dying star before then, anyway.

Torry Holt took a hardline stance when asked his impressions of Rams' rookie receiver Donnie Avery yesterday, which is fine -- this "prove it" stuff happens between veterans and rookies every year, and Holt has the career and locker room respect to be brash. But how much longer will Holt have that respect?

This is merely an opinion, but if Holt continues down the path he's on, I'm not sure his reputation in St. Louis is going to be regarded as lovingly as it currently is.

It seems unlikely that Holt will ever be the bad guy in St. Louis as it stands, considering his production and seemingly benevolent demeanor. But the same was thought of Tiki Barber years ago, and that didn't stop him from embarking on a degradation campaign.

The seeds were planted last year, when Holt blew up on Scott Linehan in an incident that seems to go far deeper than either side portrayed. This offseason, Holt has publicly daydreamed about a future playing in Carolina.

Hmmm, a team trying to rebound from a bad year dealing with distractions because one player couldn't get along with his coach and was playing with one foot out the door. Where have we heard that one before? I'm not saying anything definitive, and of course I can be proven very wrong this season. But the parallels are there, and I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see hostility continue to rise.

Well, hold the phone. At NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's press conference following his meeting with ex-Patriots employee Matt Walsh, Goodell said there would be no new sanctions against the Patriots because "there was no Rams walk-through tape."

But afterward, ESPN's Sal Paolantonio reported that although Walsh didn't tape the Rams' walk-through, he attended it, watched what the Rams did and reported back to the team's coaching staff about what he saw.

Specifically, according to Paolantonio, Walsh told Brian Daboll, a Patriots assistant coach, about the way the Rams planned to align their tight end against the Patriots' defense, and that the Rams lined up in a kick return formation in which Marshall Faulk took the field.

If Paolantonio's report is accurate, Goodell should have mentioned it at his press conference -- and you can bet Senator Arlen Specter will mention it later today. As far as Goodell is concerned, this issue is over, but Paolantonio's report is just the kind of information Specter needs to keep Spygate alive.

St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson is 24 years old, he has three straight 1,000-yard seasons, and he's heading into the final year of his contract. No surprise, he's thinking about a big payday coming soon.

He tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"I think I've been a good person on and off the field," Jackson said Saturday at minicamp, "so I expect to be rewarded."

Jackson also says that St. Louis "is definitely where I want to be," and, "I'm pretty sure that we'll get something done."

However, as Mike Florio points out, teams that reward running backs for past performance, like the Seahawks with Shaun Alexander or the Chiefs with Larry Johnson, often find themselves wondering what they were thinking when that previously productive running back finally breaks down under the strain of getting tackled hundreds of times a season. Will the Rams reward Jackson?

I think his age works in his favor: He could get a five-year contract next off-season, and that would only take him to the age of 29. But NFL teams are so wary of giving big money to running backs that even a back as good as Jackson may find himself unable to get a big payday.

There was some nervous laughter surrounding Torry Holt's recent comments about him becoming a Carolina Panther (see the video above ... the comments below). Holt was at a golf outing in North Carolina just after his brother Terrence signed with the Carolina Panthers.

"I wanted to send in my resignation to the the Rams and see if I could join him," the elder Holt joked. "I'm excited, but I'm also a little jealous because I've always wanted an opportunity to come back home."

Holt is from Greensboro, NC and was a star at NC State. There was some joking there, especially when the word "resignation" was thrown in.

However, it has to be a bit concerning to the Rams that Holt said this, especially as he enters the final two years of his contract. He's had a rocky relationship with head coach Scott Linehan and just witnessed the unceremonial exodus of fellow receiver Isaac Bruce this offseason.

Recent comments threw some more fuel on the fire ... especially since he name dropped the Panthers again.

Greg Bishop of the New York Times reports that former New England Patriots employee Matt Walsh has sent the NFL eight videotapes showing the play-calling signals of five opponents in six games from 2000 to 2002. But Walsh does not have a tape of the St. Louis Rams' walk-through practice prior to the 2002 Super Bowl.

The most explosive accusation against the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick in the Spygate story was the Boston Herald's report that they taped the Rams' final practice before the Super Bowl. Walsh's lawyer said this about that:

"Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walk-through. Mr. Walsh has never been the source of any of the media speculation about such a tape. Mr. Walsh was not the source for the Feb. 2 Boston Herald article."

We can't say much without knowing the precise content of the eight tapes, but right now, this sounds like good news for the Patriots and Belichick. If all Walsh can show is what we already knew -- that the Patriots were taping opponents in violation of league rules -- the NFL is unlikely to tack on additional discipline.