One of the beauties of having the first overall pick in the NFL draft is that you can begin contract negotiations with players at any point. That means, theoretically, the Rams could be talking to multiple player agents right now to try and strike no deal.
And there's nothing theoretical about it. That's exactly what they're doing, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
"All the people who are in the discussion (for No. 1 overall), we've talked to their agents," Demoff said. "We're really just comparing notes. Also, it may take some time, so we figured we'd get a head start."
Those players include Sam Bradford, Jimmy Clausen, Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy.
The two names most often linked to the Rams are Bradford and Suh.
This is pretty standard operating procedure. The Lions completed a contract ahead of time for Matthew Stafford last season as did the Dolphins with Jake Long two years ago.
The advantage is that the team can leverage the the players against each other.
If you're, say, Jimmy Clausen, would you take a below-market deal to be the No. 1 pick? If he's not selected there, then the next possible slot is the Redskins and that's a difference of millions.