Rams : Stams Signs Four-Year Contract : Only the First-Round Picks Have Yet to Come to Terms
With no draft choices left to practice on after Wednesday’s signing of second-round pick Frank Stams, the Rams must now turn thoughts and pocketbooks to Round 1, where Bill Hawkins and Cleveland Gary await.
Stams, an outside linebacker from Notre Dame and the highest of the Rams’ three second-round choices, agreed to a four-year deal and reported to Wednesday’s practice. The Rams have signed 12 of their 14 draft choices and now dig into the men from Miami, Hawkins and Gary. There appears little chance the first-round picks will make it in time for the team’s trip to Tokyo for an Aug. 5 exhibition game with the San Francisco 49ers.
“Hawkins and Gary seem to be on the back burner,” Coach John Robinson said. “They are in my mind.”
Details of Stams’ contract were not available, though Stams said his deal was at least comparable to second-round choices Brian Smith and Darryl Henley, who received similar four-year, $1.1 million deals from the Rams.
“There was no doubt it would get done,” Stams said. “It was a matter of when. My ambition is to play football, not to miss a season.”
Stams, who figures to face stiff competition at outside linebacker this season, stayed in football shape with some unconventional techniques.
“Every Friday, I went out and butted heads with a tree,” Stams said. “No helmet.”
How much has receiver Ron Brown’s stock risen in recent months? The Rams are actually toying with the idea of using Brown in the backfield on occasion this season.
“I think we could do that,” Robinson said. “It’s just nice to have him here in the summer.”
Same time last year, Brown was retired from football and seemingly headed in a trade to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He returned to the Rams in October and played in seven games, making two catches.
“It’s all behind me,” Brown said of his troubled past in Anaheim. “I’m here and it’s going to be a good year.”
Brown says he’s in better shape now than in 1984, when he captured a gold medal in the Los Angeles Olympic Games as a member of the 4x100 relay team.
“I’ve done a lot of workouts and training,” he said. “Normal things that you’re supposed to do that I hadn’t done in prior years.”
Brown said he couldn’t help being motivated by last season’s performance of best friend Henry Ellard, who led the National Football League with 1,414 receiving yards and broke Tom Fears’ single-season team reception record with 86, eclipsing the mark of 84 Fears set in 1950.
“It was good to see him have a good year,” Brown said of Ellard. “He’s my buddy. He showed you can be a Pro Bowl receiver in this organization. It hadn’t been done in 18 years.”
Ram Notes
Rookies travel to San Diego on Sunday to scrimmage the Chargers. Coach John Robinson said he didn’t know if holdout tight end Damone Johnson would make the trip to Tokyo. Johnson is under contract but unhappy with his contract, which will pay him $200,000 this season. “We’re still trying to sort that out,” Robinson said of Johnson’s situation. “We’ll try to have something solidified in the next day or so.” Johnson is looking for a little boost in pay after a 42-catch season in 1988. . . . More on Frank Stams. Asked if he had any contact with the team’s first pick, defensive end Bill Hawkins, Stams replied: “Hawkins hasn’t talked to me since the Miami game.” Notre Dame defeated Miami last season in a game that ultimately decided the national championship.
