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2011 Undrafted Free Agent Signings: Rams Could Look Running Back (1 Viewer)

BigTex

Don't mess with Texas
http://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-rams/2011/5/2/2148397/undrafted-free-agent-signings-2011

The 2011 NFL Draft is over, and Steven Jackson is still pegged to get the vast majority of rushing opportunities in the St. Louis Rams' offense. Whether that's by the design or the result of the Rams' thinking on the running back as a position or the individual players available is anybody's guess, but with college free agents lining up to be picked there remain some options for St. Louis once free agency actually opens up.

Turf Show Times offers a list of possible running backs, including Graig Cooper, Derrick Locke, and Noel Devine. Kenneth Darby, the primary backup in 2010, was a seventh-rounder in the 2007 NFL Draft, a Tampa Bay Buccaneers project; Keith Toston, the only other running back to pick up at least 10 carried in 2010, was undrafted out of Oklahoma.

Those aren't, perhaps, the most sparkling endorsements for running back bargain-hunting, but there's always Willie Parker and Priest Holmes—and Lawrence Philips, perhaps—on the other side of the ledger. Nobody the Rams sign off the street is likely to take over for Steven Jackson someday, but he might take up some slack for Jackson in 2011.
I guess the Rams will be targeting one the backs in next years draft as their true featured back.

 
I would think Greg Cooper and Derrick Locke will get a shot once they can be signed. They will be cheap and those are two names that were thrown about as potential steals in the later rounds. Once signings are open, as a UFA, Stl is a place I would be looking to go.

 
Rams need some help. I'd be down for an UDFA and a veteran free agent this year, then drafting a RB high in next year's draft (fingers crossed for Trent Richardson).

 
Do they really need anything more than a replacement level backup?
No. It's not like they have to "groom" a replacement, right? When SJax is done, you get a young guy with talent and give him the ball. But they do need a backup that is better than the scrubs they've been running out there, Darby and the other guy. But if they feel they need to upgrade the backup spot, and they didn't feel that way last year, there are about a dozen vet free agents that represent an upgrade.
 
Do they really need anything more than a replacement level backup?
No. It's not like they have to "groom" a replacement, right? When SJax is done, you get a young guy with talent and give him the ball. But they do need a backup that is better than the scrubs they've been running out there, Darby and the other guy. But if they feel they need to upgrade the backup spot, and they didn't feel that way last year, there are about a dozen vet free agents that represent an upgrade.
They have been wickedly negligent when it comes to a backup for what has been the focal point of their offense the past five years. Peyton Manning is the only other "difference maker" on the offensive side of the ball who has been less "backed up" over the last half of the decade. Someone mentioned Barber as a good back up and I like that idea...I am talking Marion, not Tiki. This team is rising and it would be ironic/silly if their downfall in 2011, happened to be their only strength from 2005-2010.
 

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