James: Hi as a life time Rams fan I am more than a little conserned about the currend state of the franchise. I understand we need a OT and andre smith is a great choice. But the fans need something now or the rams could end up not going to the games. First you need to deal with Torry Holt and not put it off. He has done alot for our team and he deserves the respect of all rams fans and that of the front office. He does'nt deserve what happend with Bruce. We lose Holt too the following year will not help with the fan base. Unless you draft a Crabtree/Maclin type reciver. I was just wondering about your draft this year and where you stand about keeping and adding players in the off season to help turn around the rams for 09.

Thank You,
James

Jim Thomas: As I've mentioned previously, free agency could change the picture, but I still say the Rams take the best OT available at No. 2 overall.

jon in kentucky: Will you please inform me when FA begins? Although everything depends on the coach, formations, and coordinators, and idea of who we may be targeting?

Jim Thomas: The free agency (and trading period) begins on Feb. 27. The problem with saying who the team is targeting is that many if not most of the top names will either be re-signed by their teams or franchised before we get to Feb. 27. Obviously, the Rams probably are taking at look at Carolina OT Jordan Gross and Minnesota C Matt Birk, among others.

osully5040: Jim;

Can you give us, in a nutshell, Chip Rosenbloom's "Inheritance Tax" issue concerns. It sounds like the guy who wins $600 million in a lottery and has to pay $300 million to Uncle Sam. It doesn't seem like a bad problem to have. I'm not an accountant or financial advisor but I would have to think C.R. could make back up in future revenues generated by the Rams what ever he had to pay in taxes.

Thanks.

Tom O'Sullivan
Columbia, Mo

Jim Thomas: Good question. But under your scenario, Rosenbloom still has to pay the $300 million. Where does that money come from? Rosenbloom is a millionaire, not a billionaire. And just because he steps into a franchise that is worth $600 million (to use your figure) _ that doesn't mean he has $600 million in his hands.
And as I mentioned in my Rosenbloom article in last Saturday's P-D, the Rams are in the bottom 1/4 of the 32 NFL teams in terms of revenue. So it's not like he's making tons of money (by NFL standards) each year to pay off that $300 million.

larry wilson: Jim

Interested in your opinion of Haslett's chances to land the Rams HC position, now that some of the other big name coordinators and ex-coaches from outside the organization are entering the equation?

Thanks

Jim Thomas: My last weekly rating had him at 35-65. I think I'll bump it up to 40-60 this week just because it isn't a stellar field of candidates (unless there's some Dick Vermeil-like surprise that we haven't heard about.)

ctramsfan: Jim, have the Rams made any moves to attempt to re-sign Bartell, Atogwe, Craft, Goldberg, or Romberg?

Thanks for your time

Jim Thomas: Nothing that I'm aware of.