Bartell agrees to terms, recruits Butler for St. Louis Rams
Not only did cornerback Ron Bartell agree to terms Monday on a four-year deal with the Rams, he’s busy recruiting free-agent safety James Butler of the New York Giants to sign with St. Louis as well.
Turns out Bartell and free safety teammate Oshiomogho Atogwe know Butler pretty well. The trio worked out together for a couple of weeks last offseason at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
“James is a great guy,” Bartell said. “The business side is always important, but he definitely wants to be a Ram, I can tell you that much.”
As for Bartell, despite being pursued heavily by New Orleans, he’s happy to be staying with St. Louis.
“It was a lot of pressure, and it took a little longer than I hoped,” Bartell said. “But I made no bones about it. I wanted to stay in St. Louis.”
His four-year deal includes $13.6 million in guaranteed money. It can max out at $28 million if Bartell reaches certain incentives.
“The Saints made a strong push toward the end,” said Bartell’s agent, Jeff Griffin. “It was pretty close. It never came down to the money because they both were great deals.”
Despite reports indicating otherwise, Butler has not made a visit to Cleveland. His only trip so far has been with the Rams according to one of his agents, Carl Poston.
I love what I’m hearing and I think we’ll get him. Great job Billy D. and as always great job Jim! Too bad the economy couldn’t get a stimulus package like this!
Way to go Ron! Now that is a 4 pillars guy if there ever was one. Helping his team on the first day back. I like the team chemistry that the new regime is building, brick by brick.
wow my 21st was this friday and the rams gave me a pretty good bday present. they actually have a pulse in the offseason for a change! and judging by the relationship oj and ron have with james, it seems like he’ll be signing with us shortly, believe me, i know its waaaay too early to get excited as i have been the past few years and iv’e been disappointed but this is a good start in the offseasons for the rams. im really hoping for a new exciting era with this team. So now that crabtree is bailin out on the combine and possibly the pro day and andre smith has a million freakin red flags that screams dont draft me, who do we get?
Draft Curry, Smith, or Monroe…. That’s the way to go!
Great job getting our younger talent back, hopefully well sign Butler to but after that I don’t think any more gonna come out of signings, maybe some trades tho, but the way i see it if the Rams drop Holt n keep Pace they’ll take Crabtree, if they keep both they’ll take Curry, n if they drop Pace, whether or not they keep or drop Holt they’ll take Smith or Monroe, of course that’s if they don’t sign or more likely now trade for another player.
Not to sound like a homer, but I would love to see the Rams draft Maclin. Just because of his kickoff and punt return abilities.
Ron, I have been a Rams fan for 35 yrs, Thank you, Pete
Thank you Chip for bringing in professionals and pride and excitement to the team. Still too soon to say for sure about draft picks until the Holt and Pace situations are resolved. I still think they could both contribute another good year of veteran experience but it doesn’t look like that is how it will go. But as it stands Curry, Smith, or Monroe fit the bill. Sure do like Raji though, could still get the OL in the 2nd.
I am really glad they got the Bartell negotiation behind them and didn’t have it linger and sour everyone. Onward and upward.
According to many reports, the Rams are also interested in Leonard Weaver but are going to wait a little bit to get him cheaper. They realize they need a “smashmouth” FB to lead for SJ and one that can also be a backup for SJ.
Like I’ve said in previous posts, be patient. Billy D. and Spags know that all our holes can’t be filled with the draft alone. Rookies take time to develop. Now with Bartell, Wade, Hill, King, Atogwe, and hopefully Butler, we have a decent secondary. I think we will also sign another secondary type CB that will be cheaper also. With Spags’ system and obvious presence we will be a better team.
Think about what holes we have filled and are going to fill. If we trade either Pace or Holt (and I would prefer to keep Pace for another year as he was pretty good this last year and a rookie makes a lot of mistakes) we’ll have more room to sign even more people to help this team.
I would love to draft Curry to solidy the middle of our defense but I also like Jason Smith from Baylor. Barron is in the last year of his contract so we need to keep that in mind.
Patience people. I believe in this administration as much as I DIDN’T believe in the previous one. They might and probably will make mistakes but I believe they have the best interests in the team in mind as opposed to power plays and egos.