The Rams made a deal to add a snazzy new piece to their secondary on Friday by agreeing to trade for Marcus Peters, and while this figures to relocate Trumaine Johnson, the other key UFA in Los Angeles’ defensive backfield might not be going anywhere.
If it’s between Lamarcus Joyner or Sammy Watkins as to which player the Rams will use their franchise tag on, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com reports the team is leaning toward Joyner as of Friday.
The goal remains to reach a long-term agreement with one of the two UFAs in order to keep the other player via the tag, Garafolo notes. The looming Aaron Donald contract could complicate that strategy, but the Rams appear to be interested in retaining both Joyner and Watkins for 2018.
A tag for Joyner would be the cheaper course of action, with a safety tag expected to cost $11.08MM. A Watkins tag would be pricey, locking him down for $16.23MM. The Rams, though, invested more in Watkins by trading a second-round pick and E.J. Gaines. But the former Bills first-round pick struggled to assimilate in Los Angeles, although eight of his 39 catches ended in touchdowns.
Joyner was a 2014 second-rounder and hadn’t started more than eight games in a season until his contract year, when he started 12 and had a strong season. On a safety market flooded with talent, Joyner may be the top UFA if he reaches the market. With the Dolphins tagging Jarvis Landry and the Jaguars possibly set to tag Allen Robinson, Watkins would surely also fare well on the open market.
If you asked me today who I think is the better team Eagles or Rams, I gotta say Rams
I must have missed that part in the article. Was there a poll? Oh that’s right. The Rams won the Super Bowl, beat the Vikings pretty bad(who were in my opinion the best overall team in the NFC postseason), took number one in the league in standings, and beat the Eagles during the regular season. I must be lost in all this gun violence to get this straight.
So salty, Eagles won bro, its okay, calm down. We’re on to next year.
But it was HER turn…!