Rams break camp but not Jackson stalemate
MEQUON, Wis. (Camp Day 20/final report)
At about 5 p.m. Wednesday, as the rain-soaked players, coaches and support personnel trudged off Century Field at Concordia University, it became official: Holdout running back Steven Jackson had missed the entire training camp.
The team arrived here July 24, and practices began the next day. The Rams spent 15 days in Mequon and five in Nashville sharing practices with the Titans. All told, they went through 23 practices, plus several walk-throughs, put in about 50 hours on the field and many more in the classroom.
All without Jackson, who so far has run up a $302,320 fine in his quest for a new contract before he heads into the final season of his original five-year deal. Coach Scott Linehan, who refused the let the Jackson situation derail his camp plans, apparently wants to get more involved now.
“This is an obvious break in the action, and we have some time to collect our thoughts,” he said after Wednesday afternoon’s final practice. “I’m going to meet with Jay (Zygmunt) tomorrow and kind of see where we’re at. I’m hoping for the best. I know it will work out soon.”
Of course, Rams officials were saying that three weeks ago.
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The early returns on the Mequon experience were positive, at least in Linehan’s opinion.
“The only proof is how it pays off in the end, but I know more about our football team personally just because we’ve been around each other 21 days straight,” he said. “I think it’s been outstanding that way . . . and I know we’re a lot better football team than when we started 21 days ago.”
Notes & quotes:
>>Linehan kept the team on the field Wednesday despite a driving rain over the last 45 minutes or so.
>>Pro Football Hall of Famer Ted Hendricks watched from the sideline Wednesday. He was checking out rookie Chris Long, the 2007 winner of the Ted Hendricks Award, presented annually to the top defensive end in college football.
>>With Oshiomogho Atogwe (hamstring), Eric Bassey (neck) and Jerome Carter (groin) nursing injuries, the Rams could have just two healthy safeties for Saturday night’s home game vs. the Chargers: Corey Chavous and Todd Johnson. That’s not counting international player Sebastien Sejean, who will spend the season on the practice squad. Sejean had two tackles in brief action vs. the Titans.
All for now . . . reports resume Friday from St. Louis.
I can appreciate S. Jackson’s stance that he needs to get as much as he can as soon as he can since tomorrow is promised to no one. But I believe the Rams should sit tight simply because of the binding contract both parties signed and the bad precedent it would establish.
I do not view S. Jackson as selfish or any other negative. He has to do what he thinks he should do and the Rams have to do what they have to do.
Besides, the Rams cannot have an entire offense revolve around one person. Other teams would quickly neutralize that. The team needs other backs and if neither Leonard or Pittman fill the bill it is up to management to find (and someday draft) running backs that do.
I sure hope this camp paid off. I also hope Steve’s return doesn’t lead to a bunch of timing problems on offense. I think the Rams have an opportunity to suprise a lot of teams this year. Staying healthy is the key. Get Steven signed, stay healthy, and GO RAMS
I just can’t beleive that after last season’s mess that Miss Jackson is willing to sit out. It seems like a much better strategy to get with this team and help get it on track! Win 10+ games and then you have every right to complain about your worth. This guy is Chad Johnson in a blue/Gold uniform. The Rams will buckle and Miss Jackson will get paid, but how many timeouts(and or punts) will he cause because he’s not sure what’s going on when #10 yells out the play? Let’s Go Blues!!!
GO JACKSON,
Anything that will eventually cost Jay Z his job is okay with me. I love fans that say Jackson should honor his contract but would have no problem saying that the Rams should cut the bum if his two pervious year were unproductive. NFL contracts are worthless and that is why so many players have the huge signing bonus to ensure they get paid.
Go Rams, Go Jackson and Go away Jay Z.
Apparently $50 million over 7 years is not enough for Jackson to put food on the table for several Jackson generations.
On the one hand, I don’t blame him for protecting himself until he gets paid but really Henrik Zetterberg of the Detroit Red Wings is coming off a far superior regular season, a Conn Smythe Trophy and a Stanley Cup win and the contract he signed pays him $2.65 million for the new season (last season of his current contract), absolutely ridiculously underpaid, but he respects the contract he signed and I strongly believe he is not going to holdout (I would say he is not, but really I can’t say for sure, I am not Zetterberg).
So I don’t see what kind of money Jackson wants considering he is coming off an average, injury-affected year. As far as I know the Rams were quite willingly negotiating in good faith, so I don’t blame them for refusing to negotiate.
By the way stltoday.com, your anti-spam text tool does not work with Apple Safari, I perfectly entered the text 4 times and each time I got a text error message. First try on Internet Explorer and my mesaage went through fine.
Steven Jackson is a jerk! Holly smokes our team went 3-13 last year!
I am a season ticket holder who has forked over big bucks for my tickets. We only had one home win last year out of eight games.
Steven if you are not ready to play when the season starts, you will be booed.
Boooooooooooo!
First, I don’t blame Jackson for getting all he can, I do at my job.
Second, Her is what I blame him for. The Rams stated they would negotiate with him once he showed up, I believe them. He should have shown up and told the Rams if this don’t get done before week 1 of the regular season I will walk out. Don’t know what Jackson has been paid as a player since he arrived but I bet it’s more than most folks make in a life time.
Third, Steven be a mine and control your own fate, stop letting your mommy and sister tell you what to do. Grow some balls.
It’s nice to see someone like Meyer Magence responding to the Jackson hold-out in a calm and thoughtful manner. I’d have to disagree slightly with his position, though. While I’m sure that Jackson is thinking along the line of “get as much as he can as soon as he can”, I still think it’s a bit selfish of him. He’s far from the only culprit of this kind of thinking, but the fact is that the rest of his teammates were out sweating and working toward improving the Rams for 2008. While it’s almost surely true that Jackson will improve the Rams the moment he shows up, he’s still violating a contract that he signed willingly. If he signs a new five year deal and then has a 750 yd. season in 2010, will he allow the Rams to pay him less money due to poor performance? Not hardly.
Bottom line: Is he deserving of a raise? Considering his on-field performance, quite possibly. However, I have little respect for players under contract failing to fulfill that contract. To me, it should be a matter of constantly trying to prove you’re worth the money a) you’ve already signed for and b) you hope to get in the future.
Dammit. The Patriots just signed John Lynch to a 1-year deal.
I remember when the Rams used to go out and address their needs. This team is ultra-thin at safety. You’d think with Linehan on the hot seat, they’d go out and get him some help. Man, I’m pissed. I’ve been talking about getting Lynch for weeks!
This is just a lousy, apathetic organization.