The only player to be tendered at a first-round level this offseason, Rams quarterback Case Keenum, has officially signed his RFA tender, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. The transaction doesn’t come as a surprise, since the first-round tender made it extremely unlikely that Keenum would get an offer sheet.
By assigning him a high-end tender worth $3.635MM, rather than the second-round tender ($2.553MM) or the right-of-first-refusal tender ($1.671MM), the Rams ensured that any team attempting to poach Keenum would have to be willing to send a first-round pick to Los Angeles to do so.
Keenum, 28, took over as the Rams’ starter last season after Nick Foles was benched — he went on to start five games, completing nearly 61% of his passes for 828 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception.
Keenum’s solid 2015 performance had head coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead talking this offseason as if he would head into the 2016 season as the team’s starting quarterback. Now that the club has acquired the first overall pick in the draft though, Keenum’s role looks a little less certain.
With Keenum, Foles, 2015 third-rounder Sean Mannion, and either Jared Goff or Carson Wentz all potentially in the mix at quarterback, the Rams will almost certainly have to trade or release at least one signal-caller before the season gets underway. While it’s possible that Keenum will be dealt, the Rams like him enough – and he’s cheap enough – that it would make sense to keep him around to compete for the starting job or to back up the No. 1 pick. Foles appears to be more expendable for now.
Still, now that Keenum has signed his RFA tender, he’s eligible to be traded, if the Rams do get an offer they like. A report last week suggested that the Broncos might have some interest in Keenum.
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