Charger En Route to Rams : NFL: San Diego plans to sign offensive lineman Leo Goeas, then trade him for fourth-round pick in draft.

The Chargers plan to sign offensive lineman Leo Goeas to a three-year, $2.6-million contract, then trade him to the Rams this week for a fourth-round pick in the April 25 draft.

“We hope to have it completed toward the end of the week,” said Jay Zygmunt, Ram senior vice president.

Charger General Manager Bobby Beathard said the two teams have a deal, “and now it’s just a matter of the paperwork being completed.”

If the Rams had signed Goeas, a restricted free agent who was paid $285,000 last season, to an offer sheet, the Rams would have had to surrender a third-round pick to the Chargers.

“If the lower compensation was the only thing holding up the deal, then I said we would do that,” Beathard said. “We agreed to make the deal for a fourth.

“We wanted to find a way to get some extra draft choices without hurting ourselves, and without Leo we still have four guards.”

Although the Rams and Goeas’ agent, Mark Bartelstein, devised the contract, the Chargers will sign Goeas. They will then transfer his rights to the Rams, thereby avoiding the business of signing an offer sheet for a restricted free agent and waiting seven days for the transaction to be resolved.

Goeas, 26, is 6 feet 4, 292 pounds and has started 17 games at tackle for the Chargers since being drafted in the third round in 1990. He will step in as the leading candidate to replace Joe Milinichik, who signed with the Chargers, as the Rams’ starting right guard.

“It’s a great thing for Leo,” Bartelstein said. “Leo was a role player with the Chargers, and while his versatility is a great plus, it’s been a negative as far as his career has gone.

“The Rams look at him to step in and start at right guard. There was some urgency on their part, and I give Jay Zygmunt a lot of credit. He had the Shane Conlan deal going, and yet he put an emphasis on getting this done, too.”