PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : RAMS : Two Tight Ends Fill the Vacuum

The Rams, who began training camp without any tight ends, signed two--veteran Travis McNeal, to a one-year contract, and Troy Drayton, their second-round pick. Drayton signed a three-year deal for $1.3 million.

Drayton’s first-year salary, which includes a reporting bonus, will be $365,000 in guaranteed money, according to NFL Players Assn. sources. Drayton will earn $456,250, which includes a $175,000 reporting bonus, in 1994 and $547,500 in the third year of the deal.

Drayton, 6-3 and 255, set a receptions record for tight ends at Penn State with 36 for 488 yards last season.

“Now the money part is over with so I guess it’s time to get on the field and show the Rams what they have,” Drayton said. “I think they have a very good tight end.

“I’ve completed one of my dreams,” Drayton said, “and that was to become a professional football player.”

Running back Jerome Bettis, the Rams’ first-round pick, remains the only draft choice unsigned.

But there were indications from within the team Tuesday that the Rams might now be willing to accept Bettis’ proposal for a five-year contract with an attached escape clause freeing him from the fifth year.

The escape clause would allow Bettis to become a free agent after his fourth season with the Rams so long as he gains 1,200 yards in two of his four years, and advances to the Pro Bowl once.

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Coach Chuck Knox welcomed the arrival of McNeal in time for the afternoon workout.

“I was glad my man Travis showed up,” Knox said. “I thought for a while there he was going to give it the old routine: ‘No sense getting in there all by myself, them coaches will beat me up and wear me out.’

“But he did the gallant thing . . . it’s a very admirable quality to find in a player these days.”

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Darryl Ashmore, the Rams’ top prospect at offensive tackle, will spend the next four to six weeks in a cast after suffering a strained left knee in Tuesday morning’s practice at Cal State Fullerton.

“No surgery is necessary,” Knox said. “We were counting on him, but he will still have some time to come back. It just depends on how long it takes for that to tighten up.”

Ashmore’s right knee was injured in training camp last year and he opened the season on injured reserve. He returned after the fifth game and spent the remainder of the season on the practice squad.