By:  StlouisramsX

Yesterday marked the first of what will likely amount to several meetings between rookie quarterback Sam Bradford’s agent Tom Condon, and Vice President of Football Operations for the St Louis Rams, Kevin Demoff.

Recently, articles have been circulating urging the Rams to “take a stand” against increasing rookie salaries and to leverage their position (whatever the hell that may be) to force Bradford to settle for the league minimum this year.   “Some NFL insiders believe they should.”  said Sporting News ‘insider’ Mike Florio.   “In a year before owners are expected to lock out the players, the Rams could spark a process that, as a practical matter, locks out the first-round picks who aren’t willing to accept whatever teams will pay.”

As William Wallace-esque as that may sound, that’s just not going to happen.  The Rams would put themselves in the precarious situation of addressing claims of collusion, particularly if other NFL teams followed suit.  But then again, who’s actually going to follow the lead of the St Louis Rams?  The next couple of high salary demand players are Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh, and fellow DT from Oklahoma, Gerald McCoy. The Detroit Lions have already committed to paying #1 overall money and appear to have no problem doing so after inking QB Matthew Stafford to a 6-year, $41M contract last year.   And let’s face it – it’s not as if the economy took an enormous dive between 2009 and 2010.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers likely have no interest in “taking a stand” against rookies and their agents either. McCoy is represented by the same firm that represents Bradford with  Ben Dogra taking the lead in Tampa.  McCoy will likely be looking at something close to what defensive tackle Tyson Jackson received last year – a five-year, $57 million contract.  The only thing holding up negotiations in Buccaneer land is the conclusion of negotiations in St Louis.  At no point has Buccaneers General Manager Mark Dominik hinted that he’d be interested in further tarnishing his reputation in the Cigar City (love that nickname, by the way) by stone-walling their top pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.

Let’s just come to terms with the reality of the situation. The Rams aren’t going to “take a stand” and go on without Sam Bradford.  They knew full well what his contract demands were going to be before they even drafted him. If there was any hesitancy on the part of the Rams’ front office to pay #1 money to a #1 player, they would have shopped that 1st pick around and taken an offer that represented at least a lateral move (in terms of value).

As ESPN’s John Clayton reports, Condon and Demoff both live in St Louis, and they’re going to work this thing out to where it’s mutually beneficial to both parties. Anyone with any experience in contract negotiations knows that the first meeting is only to lay the groundwork. There’s probably going to be several more meetings before this is resolved, but mark my words; it will get resolved. And probably within a week.

In the meantime, Sam Bradford can enjoy a few days with arguably the NFL’s greatest QB, Peyton Manning, as Chris Mortenson tweeted yesterday

Whiile Sam Bradford’s reps meet with Rams, he’s working out with Peyton Manning. Golf is part of the recess from 2 days of work. 9:20 AM Jul 16th via TweetDeck

So to clarify, Peyton and Sam Bradford working for 2 days on a football field and mixing in golf…oh and some chalk talks. 11:17 AM Jul 16th via TweetDeck

We realize it’s the off-season and there are very few nuggets out there for fans of a 1-15 team, but to concoct this Frankenstein of an idea that the Rams should be the first (and last) team to reverse a trend that’s been in place since the inception of the salary cap, is ludicrous.   It would be nice to live a vicarious life of rebellion through another team’s front office, but the front office in question would have to be a willing participant.

And…… they’re not.   Sorry, Florio.