Steve Wyche of NFL Network reported Monday night that Rams safety O.J. Atogwe won’t sign the low restricted free agent tender he was offered before June 1.
It would have been a shock if he did.
Atogwe is guaranteed to become an unrestricted free agent on June 1 or get a tender offer worth roughly $7 million (110 percent of his 2009 salary), so he would have been crazy to sign the $1.226 million tender the Rams first offered.
(That sounds more confusing than it is.)
Look for the Rams to put one final push on signing Atogwe long-term before the drop dead day hits. Atogwe can drive a hard bargain, because he knows the Rams don’t just want to give him away.