St. Louis Rams: Monday's News and Notes at Noon

Welcome to Monday's St. Louis Rams "News and Notes at Noon", the pre- Free Agency edition of the one-stop update column for all things Rams.

Today's edition will be brief (due to an electric problem on my end), but I will catch everyone up, nonetheless. 

Free Agency Begins Tomorrow

With free agency finally upon us, Howard Balzer of 101sports.com published a terrific piece today detailing his "dazzling dozen" and ranking the top five free agents at each position. 

A couple of unusual names high on his list include Kansas City cornerback Brandon Carr at No. 2, wide receiver Pierre Garcon of Indianapolis at No. 5 and guard Carl Nicks of New Orleans at No. 6.  

In case you missed it, I posted an article on Sunday detailing the top four free agents that I feel the Rams should target, including two names that Balzer mentions. 

According to a piece from Greg A. Bedard on boston.com, Rams free agent wide receiver Brandon Lloyd best fits in New England due to the presence of former Rams offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who has returned to work under Bill Belichick for a second stint.  

The column asserts that Lloyd was not a very good teammate in Denver and can be more of a stat guy than most might imagine. 

Another free agent wide receiver who has been mentioned as an option for the Rams is future Hall of Fame member Randy Moss.  I took a look at seven reasons why Moss could make sense in St. Louis here (although I am not personally endorsing such a move). 

Nick Wagoner of stlouisrams.com continued his free agency positional previews looking at his lists for the top five available running backs, quarterbacks and specialists while looking at the Rams status at each position. 

How Much Cap Room Do the Rams Currently Have? 

Pro Football Talk did a quick rundown of each team's salary cap situation.  As of March 11, only six teams were looking worse in regard to the salary cap than the Rams.  

However, those numbers are fluid.  Depending on what cuts and/or restructuring the Rams might do, that number could grow significantly.

No, they are not going to end up with a ton of cap room in any scenario, but Rams Chief Operating Officer Kevin Demoff and general manager Les Snead can create quite a bit more wiggle room than they have at the moment.

Some potential cuts include Fred Robbins ($4 million savings), Jason Brown ($2.8 million savings) and, more unlikely, Ron Bartell ($6.2 million savings).  

Jason Smith could also be cut if he does not restructure his deal.  Either way, the Rams will make some room via Smith in terms of the salary cap.  

Chris Long, finally, could get extended and offer some big savings to the Rams.  He is set to earn over $18 million this year.  A new deal could knock that number down immensely, in theory. 

Rams' Owner Stan Kroenke and His Pursuit of the L.A. Dodgers

As reported by Bill Shaikin for the Los Angeles Times, Stan Kroenke is widely considered to be one of the top three front-runners to end up with ownership of the L.A. Dodgers.

The article points out that Kroenke is worth $3.2 billion (not counting his wife's similar net worth) but that Steve Cohen, another leading contender for the Dodgers, is worth an estimated $8.3 billion.  

The other front-runner is said to be a group led by Magic Johnson and Stan Kasten.

According to the above-linked article, Cohen was given a private tour of the team's spring training facility on Saturday.

The column points out that bids are due by March 16.

According to this piece from gmanetwork.com, the various bidding groups are scheduled to meet with Major League Baseball Representatives today and tomorrow. 

Contrary to the belief of some, a winning bid by Kroenke would not be in violation of the NFL cross-ownership rule, since there is not an NFL team playing in Los Angeles.

If a team were to move there, it could complicate matters. It would be an unprecedented situation for the league, so any speculation on what would need to occur in the event that a team (other than the Rams) tried to move to L.A. is speculative at this point. 

This piece suggests that Kroenke could possibly transfer the team to another family member, something he is doing with the Denver Nuggets. 

Have a great day as always, STL Rams Nation.

Shane Gray covers the St. Louis Rams year-round. You are encouraged to check out the rest of his work here and to follow him on Twitter.