St. Louis Free Agency: Rams Reportedly Agree to Terms with WR and TE

The St. Louis Rams have agreed to terms with free agent wide receiver Steve Smith and tight end Matthew Mulligan, according to the following tweet from Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: 

"Jim Thomas ‏ @jthom1

Rams agree to terms with WR Steve Smith of Philadelphia and TE Matthew Mulligan of New York Jets.

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As for the length of each reported deal, we attain further details once again from a separate Thomas tweet: 

"Jim Thomas ‏ @jthom1

Smith's deal is for 1 year; Mulligan's is for 2 years. Mulligan visited Rams last week; he was not tendered as restricted FA by Jets.

 

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St. Louis fans, as a whole, will be ecstatic to have finally landed a wide receiver in the 2012 Free Agency period.  

The lack of success at adding a wideout thus far has been analyzed at length, as in this recent piece from Howard Balzer of 101sports.com, as one of many examples.

As for the signing of the 26 year old Smith, the Rams will have hit a home run if he bounces back to his 2009 form where he caught 107 passes for the New York Giants with seven going for touchdowns. 

During the 2010 campaign, Smith suffered a season ending knee injury.  Last season, Smith joined the Philadelphia Eagles but only hauled in 11 balls on the year among a deep receiving corps.  

Smith goes 5'11 and 195 pounds and ran a 4.37 40 yard dash at the 2007 NFL Combine, according to footballsfuture.com. 

As for Mulligan, he is a big blocking tight end who checks in at 6'4 and 265 pounds. 

The 27 year old has played with the New York Jets during his three NFL seasons.  During those three campaigns Mulligan has had only six total receptions. 

If quarterback Sam Bradford throws him a pass this season, perhaps we should then give the new tight end a mulligan if he drops it, considering his lack of experience in the passing game? 

I could not resist that poor joke and apparently the Rams felt strongly enough about both Mulligan and the aforementioned Smith to not resist agreeing to terms with both free agents, either.

If reports of these additions are true, these two players could help St. Louis meet two needs at receiver and blocking tight end. 

It will be interesting to see if Smith has truly recovered from microfracture surgery, however, and can return to his 2009 form.

Kenyon Martin, an NBA veteran, is an example of a pro athlete who recovered from the aforementioned surgery to maintain his athleticism and former form.  

Martin had his surgery in 2005 and his been flying high for several years since. 

As for the Rams free agent additions to date, St. Louis has added: cornerback Cortland Finnegan, defensive tackle/end Kendall Langford, center Scott Wells and offensive tackle/guard Quinn Ojinnaka.

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.