Sal: with the rams offensive line needing as many as three immediate starters (center, Right Gaurd, and Right Tackle,) and left tackle not too far behind. do you think the rams will dip into the free agent pool for starter help or more for 2nd tier talent and go to the draft for starters?

Also what value would the like of Holt, Barron, Looker hold on the pre draft trade Market? more choices=more chances. thanks for taking my questions.

Sal

Jim Thomas: It's tough enough for a rookie to start at any position in the NFL, so I would think it'd be asking a lot to get more than one starting offensive linemen out of the draft. So I think it's going to be some combination of the draft and free agency.
I would think there'd be some interest in Holt, less for Barron. As for Looker, he's an unrestricted free agent.

F. Mulder: Jim: Would you give you best guess regarding whether the following players will still be on the Rams at the start of the season?

Holt
Pace
Barron
Cogs
Atogwe
Bartell

Jim Thomas: This is tricky business because there's a new head coach.
But right now, here's my guess-timate:
Holt---40-60
Pace---50-50
Barron--60-40
Incognito--60-40
Atogwe--90-10
Bartell--75-25

bfulton: I haven't heard much about Shumur's or Flajoe's reputations, besides that Spagnuolo likes them. Can you give us the conventional wisdom of their pros and cons?

As always, thanks a million.

Jim Thomas: I think Shurmur is seen as an up-and-comer. Supposedly he ran a strong second for the Michigan State job a few years ago. It's hard to rate how he'd do as an offensive coordinator because he worked for an offensive-oriented head coach (Andy Reid) at Philadelphia, and he was behind fairly high-profile coordinators there in Brad Childress and Marty Mornhingweg.
Like Shurmur, Flajole has never been a coordinator in the NFL, and he's more than a decade older than Shurmur. A part of you wants to say _ well, if Flajole was such a good coach, why hasn't been a coordinator earlier in his NFL career? But the NFL often works in strange ways, and sometimes it's just a matter of getting a chance. Flajole did a very good job with the Carolina LBs, and is regarded as a teacher and a detail-oriented coach.

Joey: Any chance the Rams tag Bartell and not Atogwe? What coaches are left to hire beyond DB coach? What is Demoff's first act as cap guy?

Jim Thomas: I'd say there's no chance that it's Bartell instead of Atogwe that gets franchised. The franchise number for a safety (Atogwe) is $6.34 million. The franchise number for a cornerback (Bartell) is $9.96 million.
See my earlier post on the coaching staff breakdown.
As for Demoff, the Rams have five players (Pace, Holt, Little, Jackson, Bulger) who count $7.4 million or more against the cap. Together, those five eat up $42.7 million of cap space _ or more than one-third of the $123 million salary cap. If the Rams are going to re-sign Bartell and Atogwe, plus free up money to do anything in free agency, they have to do something with those contracts, particularly Holt, Pace and Little. So that might be his first task, obviously at the request of Spagnuolo and Devaney.

BrotherBri: As always, thanks for keeping us informed way out in the far provinces of Rams nation.

Who is most likely to get the franchise tag for the Arizona Cardinals -- Dansby or Wilson? If both are available, do you do what the Seahawks did to us -- overpay to both improve your own team and prevent key defenders from returning to a rival? Or would Pierce and Butler be much better fits for Spagnuolo's system?

To solve the problem at Center, would you, expert that you are, prefer Birk or Jason Brown (the C from the Ravens), figuring they are both more ready to play and more able to be leaders, or would you rather draft an Alex Mack or Max Unger, feeling you'll have them longer and can better teach them into the system?

Assuming (ridiculous though it might be) that none of the following are franchised or offered multi-mega millions to play elsewhere, how would you prioritize the following free agents for the Rams:

Birk
Dansby
Peppers
Haynesworth
Pierce
Vilma
Crowder
Wilson
Butler
Lewis
Suggs
Gross
Brown
Marvel Smith

Jim Thomas: Actually, Adrian Wilson is not a free agent this year.