After signing four player contracts on Saturday, the St. Louis Rams continued their aggressive signing period by signing four more contracts. Today, the St. Louis Rams signed speedy fourth-round pick WR Mardy Gilyard to a four-year, $2.34 million contract. The Rams then closed a deal on Louisiana-Lafayette DE Hall Davis, a fifth-round pick. To round out the day, the Rams signed sixth-rounder DE Eugene Sims to a deal and then fellow sixth-rounder CB Marquis Johnson was added to the pack.
After all the first signings, boss Steve Spagnuolo said: “I’m happy to have signed these players. Once training camp starts, these rookies can direct all the focus on football and not worry about the business side of things”.
The St. Louis Rams now have eight of their eleven 2010 NFL Draft picks signed to contracts. The remaining three are Fendi Onobun, fifth-round longshot TE, second-round offensive tackle Rodger Saffold and big man on campus QB Sam Bradford. It’s nice to see the Rams quickly sign their picks, but it’s imperative that Sam Bradford and Rodger Saffold don’t miss a minute of training camp. For the Rams to be successful in 2010, I think Sam Bradford, Jason Smith and Rodger Saffold must quickly become productive NFL starters. Even after signing eight draft picks, the Rams will need to find an additional $50 million or so to sign Sam Bradford. Will the current ownership and pending sale of the team delay the signing in any way? We hope not.