| 11 May 2010
As most of you have already learned, Rams starting free safety Oshiomogho Atogwe has refused to sign his RFA tender, leading to speculation that he'll most likely be playing for another team in 2010. And since that speculation includes some folks who are hoping he'll end up in Seattle, it behooves us here at SA to take a closer look at the situation. (It also gives me an excuse to say "behooves." Behooves, behooves, behooves.)
Clearly Atogwe is disgruntled about his situation. St. Louis used their franchise tag last season to hold on to him, which netted him a fat $6.34 million, but this year they've tendered him at the lowest possible RFA level for a player with five accrued seasons, $1.23 million.
Granted, it's understandable that the Rams would be loath to designate him as their franchise player for a second straight season, as that would've cost them roughly $7.6 million (a 20% increase over his previous franchise tag salary, as per NFL rules), and tendering him at anything higher than the lowest RFA level would've required the team to offer him 110% of his previous year's salary, or $6.97 million. Either way, that's a lot to pay for a player who missed the last four weeks of the '09 season with a shoulder injury that ended up requiring reconstructive surgery. But it's also not too hard to understand why Atogwe might be insulted that his team is asking him to take a $5 million paycut.
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Assuming that Atogwe's refusal to sign his tender isn't a bluff and St. Louis decides to let him go, after June 1st he'll be an unrestricted free agent and thus free to sign with anyone who wants him. Barring the two sides negotiating a long term contract prior to the deadline, the Rams would have to increase their $1.23 million offer to the higher $6.97 million level in order to retain their rights to Atogwe, which is unlikely to happen.
But if he were to become a UFA, would he be a good fit for Seattle? I'm not so sure. Carroll's vow to foster competition at every position notwithstanding, the Seahawks already made a significant investment this offseason in the free safety position when it drafted Earl Thomas with the fourteenth overall pick, and you don't usually pay a defensive back mid-first round money to sit on the bench. That still leaves the starting gig at strong safety open, where Atogwe would be competing with Jordan Babineaux, Lawyer Milloy, and fifth round pick Kam Chancellor for the job, but strong safety isn't really a position you want to entrust to a guy with a bum shoulder.
Besides, if Atogwe were to sign with Seattle, it would be with the understanding that there's a not insignificant chance he'd end up playing backup to Thomas, and that isn't a possibility that's going to appeal to a guy who'll be hellbent on proving to everyone that the Rams made a mistake by not paying him the big bucks. And while I love the Seahawks to death, they haven't exactly set the league on fire with their win/loss ratio lately; after playing for a team that's gone 6-32 over the last three seasons, I think Atogwe's going to be looking hard for a team that's been a bit more successful recently.
Bottom line? After watching him play against Seattle the last five years, I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't be cool to have him on the roster, but I don't think that's likely to happen.
Bonus Content Concerning Restricted Free Agency
(Warning: quite possibly boring as all get-out)
If I was forced to put a probability to it, I'd say there's about a 98% chance that Atogwe's contract standoff with the Rams will be over one way or another by June 1st. But what would happen if St. Louis increased their tender to the 110% level and Atogwe still refused to sign? Well, that's where the "restricted" part of "restricted free agent" really gets ugly.
Allow me to set the scene. It's now June 2nd. Yesterday, the Rams waited until the last minute, but the thought of an Atogwe-sized hole in their secondary was just too much, so they caved and upped their tender to the requisite $6.97 mil. However, after thinking it over for a night, their star free safety has decided against re-signing with his former team. It isn't about the money anymore -- it's a matter of principle.
With his new tender in hand, Atogwe would then have until July 22nd to sign with some other team. After that date, the only team he would be allowed to sign with would be the Rams. But $6.97 million is a high asking price, especially for a player who finished the previous season on IR, and no one returns his agents' calls.
The July 22nd deadline works both ways, though: once it passes, Atogwe wouldn't be able to sign with any other team, but the Rams wouldn't be able to rescind their tender, either. Come July 23rd, they're stuck with each other for the duration.
After that, there'd be only one deadline left. If Atogwe refuses to sign with the Rams before the first Tuesday following week ten of the regular season, then he'd be unable to play in the NFL for the rest of the season.
. . .
Thankfully, this kind of situation remains purely hypothetical. Over the years a player or two has sat out a season rather than play for the team who drafted them (for example, Bo Jackson after being drafted by Tampa Bay in '86), and a couple seasons ago Lance Briggs threatened to hold out until week ten after being designated Chicago's franchise player (he signed a multi-year contract long before he had to make good on his promise, though), but to my knowledge no RFA tender dispute has gone all the way to the bitter end.
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