Rams sign punter to an offer sheet
April 13th, 2007 | by Kevin Morris |
Punter Donnie Jones chronicled LSU’s 2003 national championship season in his
book “Nine Seconds to a Championship.”
After signing an offer sheet with the Rams, Jones might have to pen a sequel:
“$5.59 Million to St. Louis.”
Having long ago grown weary of deadlocked negotiations with punter Matt Turk,
the Rams signed Jones to a five-year, $5.59 million offer sheet as a restricted
free agent. The contract includes a signing bonus of $1.175 million
Jones, 26, is a left-footed punter from Louisiana State who kicked the past two
seasons for Miami. The Dolphins have one week to match the offer. If they
don’t, Jones would join the Rams and the Dolphins would get a seventh-round
draft pick from the Rams.
The Dolphins aren’t expected to match. They are slowly ridding themselves of
many players brought in by former coach Nick Saban and have a new special-teams
coach as well. Jones also punted for Saban in college at LSU.
Jones entered the NFL as a seventh-round draft pick by Seattle in 2004. He
averaged 38.0 yards a punt in seven games with the Seahawks as a rookie before
being waived and claimed by the Dolphins on July 25, 2005.
This isn’t the first time Turk has found Jones looking over his shoulder. After
suffering a groin injury before the ‘05 season, Turk was placed on injured
reserve by the Dolphins and replaced by Jones. Jones responded with an
excellent season, averaging 43.5 yards per punt, including a league-high (and
Miami record) net average of 39.3 yards. Jones also set a Dolphins record that
year by dropping 31 punts inside the 20.
Jones’ numbers fell off in 2006, when he averaged 42.8 yards a punt, with a net
average of 35.7. Punting for the Rams, Turk posted better numbers than Jones
did in ‘06. Turk, an unrestricted free agent, is seeking a multiyear deal from
the Rams. The feeling at Rams Park is that Jones — more than a decade younger
than Turk — has a bigger upside and that his numbers will improve because he
will be punting in a dome at least half of the season.
