PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : RAMS : Tight End Carter Out 3-4 Weeks

Tight end Pat Carter, one of the team’s top offensive performers, will be sidelined three to four weeks because of a foot injury.

Call it a coincidence, but unsigned tight end Jim Price made an appearance at Rams Park Monday and suggested he might join the team Wednesday.

“I was coming in anyway,” Price said.

Price’s agent said that Price was prepared to sign a contract with the Rams Monday, but later in the day Price was telling reporters that he had not signed.

“I’m close, but I still have to hash some things out with my agent,” Price said.

He also said “there’s a good chance” he might change his mind and not sign with the Rams. Confused?

“Nothing’s happened yet,” Price said. “We’ll know Wednesday.”

Under the new terms of the collective bargaining agreement, Price must sit out the next two regular-season games before he can play. However, he can sign with the team and receive a two- to three-week roster exemption, thereby allowing him to practice and not count against the team’s 53-man limit.

Tight end Travis McNeal is expected to fill Carter’s role, while rookie Troy Drayton takes on McNeal’s responsibilities.

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Lost in the rubble of Sunday’s defeat to the Packers was the fact that quarterback Jim Everett surpassed Roman Gabriel’s all-time Ram passing record of 22,223 yards.

Everett has thrown for 22,281 yards in his eight years with the team, completing 1,729 of 3,044 attempts with 134 touchdowns and 113 interceptions.

Gabriel ran up his totals over 11 years and completed 1,705 of 3,313 with 154 touchdowns and 112 interceptions.