When tackle Jake Long returned to Miami after his extended visit with the Rams last week, word was that he was meeting with the Dolphins to discuss a contract that would allow him to remain with the team that drafted him first overall in 2008.
That word was incorrect, however. Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch spoke to Long after he decided to sign with the Rams and Long recounted what happened during his visit with the Rams as well as what happened when he returned to Florida. Or, more precisely, what didn’t happen.
“My wife and I, we came back and slept in our bed and just thought about what we wanted to do and what was best for us. Really just slept on it and wanted to think it through. And in the end St. Louis was the right place for us,” Long said. “I don’t know where that report came out, but I never went back to the facility. Nope. I didn’t meet with any of them. My wife and I were just relaxing and thinking things through. It was just me and her.
All accounts were that the Dolphins were making a strong push late to keep Long, although one wonders how close they ever came to keeping him without a meeting after Long’s lengthy time with the Rams. Long’s agent Tom Condon said it was more than a two-team race, which may be a reference to interest from the Steelers, but the winning team wound up being the one we thought it was going to be all throughout the first week of free agency.