Rams Fix Gray Area, but Still Need Lyght : Football: The former Pro Bowl cornerback signs a two-year deal as training camp opens at UC Irvine.

A little ragged around the corners last year, the Rams were one for two in getting their projected starting cornerbacks into training camp on time.

And late Wednesday, the Rams came to terms with wide receiver Flipper Anderson, agreeing to extend his contract three more years beyond 1991. Anderson, who was scheduled to be paid $220,000 this season, is believed to have agreed to a contract that will pay him an average of about $600,000 through 1994.

The Rams also signed linebacker Brett Faryniarz, reducing the number of unsigned and missing veterans to eight.

The team, which opened camp with a 4 p.m. meeting at UC Irvine Wednesday, avoided one holdout by signing veteran cornerback Jerry Gray to a two-year deal believed to be worth $1.45 million plus incentives. But an agreement still appeared to be miles away with No. 1 draft choice Todd Lyght of Notre Dame, the player they expect to team with Gray at cornerback in the reshaping of their defense.

Also missing, besides Lyght and No. 2 pick Roman Phifer, were center Tom Newberry, tackles Irv Pankey and Robert Cox, fullbacks Buford McGee and Robert Delpino, defensive end George Bethune, linebacker Fred Strickland and Anderson. Offensive tackle Gerald Perry is unsigned but is in prison and not expected to be released until late July.

Anderson was expected to be at the team’s first practice this morning.

Ram Coach John Robinson said a couple other players, probably including Phifer, a linebacker from UCLA, are close to agreeing to contracts that could get them into camp before practice begins this morning.

Gray’s agent, Marvin Demoff, apparently had a tentative agreement for the deal a few weeks ago with Executive Vice President John Shaw, but the papers weren’t signed until Wednesday, Gray said.

Gray, who played in the Pro Bowl in four of his first five seasons but missed last season after damaging his knee in an exhibition, will receive a bonus of about $300,000 each time he makes the Pro Bowl during the term of this deal. He will be paid about $700,000 in base salary this year and about $750,000 in 1992. He had base pay of $500,000 in 1990.

“I think it’s a win-win situation, considering what happened last year,” Gray said, “and I was also considering the four years prior to that, me going to the Pro Bowl. . . . I think John (Shaw) won and I think I won.”

And Gray also suggested that, given his experience, perhaps the Rams were now ready to quit their tradition of haggling with players over every cent.

“As far as management’s side (goes),” Gray said, “hopefully there’s a point to where you can say, ‘Hey, we’re trying to get the guys.’ I know John, when he was working with me personally, he was treating me very fair to the point where I could go in and talk to him one on one. And if he had something to say about me, he would say it, and if I had something to disagree, I would say it also.

“It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, I’m going to give you this, and that’s all.’ ”

If that had happened and Gray had missed much of this camp--with the team changing to an attack-style defense that forces man-to-man coverage from the corners--he said it could have blunted his attempt to come back from last season’s injury.

But even as Gray was complimenting the Ram front office on the way it quickly handled his negotiation, the agent for Lyght, Boston-based Bob Woolf, sounded a bit frustrated with the glacial pace of his talks.

Since last week, the sides have exchanged no formal proposals.

“They obviously have their own priorities,” Woolf said, “and I’m certainly tolerant of that. They say they’ve got many other things. Well, I’m available anytime, anyplace, anywhere they want me.”

Woolf’s last proposal asks for a package worth slightly more than $6 million over four years. The Rams first offered $4.25 million over four years.