Rams Notes: Dick Jauron, Danny Amendola, Brandon Gibson

Dick Jauron

Jason La Canfora reports the Rams met with former Browns DC Dick Jauron regarding their defensive coordinator vacancy.

Jauron actually did a pretty decent job with the Browns defense and fits Jeff Fisher‘s defensive philosophy better than Rob Ryan did.

Ian Rapoport adds that St Louis is expected to meet with five or six more candidates regarding the position, but doesn’t mention who those candidates could be.

We should know more in the coming days.

Danny Amendola

Nick Wagoner of StLouisRams.com writes that the Rams’ preference would be lockup WR Danny Amendola to a long-term contract instead of applying their franchise tag to him in the next few weeks.

Wagoner believes the Rams likely retain Amendola, but admits that it won’t be easy for them. St Louis spent plenty of money last year on some big-name free agents and Amendola will likely command a decent contract on the open market.

The franchise tag could be used as a temporary move to allow them to continue negotiations past March.

We have Amendola listed as the No. 20 best available player in our Top 50 Free Agents list.

Brandon Gibson

Wagoner adds WR Brandon Gibson to the “most likely to retain” list.

The Rams clearly need to find more consistent play from the wide receiver position and that’s one that Gibson has struggled with in the past.

There’s a good chance that St Louis will allow Gibson to hit the open market before approaching him about an extension.

Other Notes

• OT Wayne Hunter and S Quintin Mikell could be asked to take pay cuts. 
• OLB William Hayes and OL Rob Turner are two more players who could be retained. 
• The Rams are hopeful that C Scott Wells, G Rokevious Watkins and S Matt Daniels will be “ready to go” for their offseason program.