Editor's note: This article was ready to go to press yesterday morning, but didn't get published. Since it was written, Robert Quinn and the Rams came to terms, with the help of his new agency. My apologies to Tim, but the piece still deserves reading.

Robert Quinn, presented as the Rams' first round pick. Quarterbacks, beware!

As Rams fans headed to Earth City yesterday to get their first glimpse of the 2011 team, there was one notable face missing from the group – Robert Quinn.  The 14th overall pick in this year’s draft remained unsigned and currently is the subject of a lawsuit.  

When the NFL Players Association decertified back in March, I was working for an agent in Greenville, South Carolina.  That night I jokingly remarked to my boss to get some money together in an attempt to steal other agent’s clients.  While I was joking, it seems as though there were some agents out there that intended to take advantage of the decertification of the NFLPA and the lack of oversight of their agents.  At least that is what Robert Quinn’s former agent, Carl Carey, has alleged in a law suit filed earlier this week in federal court in Houston.

Carey claims to have given $300,000 to Quinn for training, housing, transportation and other necessities since they formed their relationship in early December.  Carey is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent Impact Sports and two of its agents, Tony Fleming and Mitchell Frankel from negotiating Quinn’s contract.  Fleming and Frankel have countered by claiming that they do not represent Quinn.

Yesterday, Howard Balzer wrote an article on the 101sports.com website on the matter.  He came up with a creative way to end this whole thing.  Howard’s advice to Quinn?   Proceed on without an agent.  While having just graduated from law school under notion that someday I’d represent athletes myself, I cannot fully endorse this idea.  However, Howard brings up some valid points.  We are in a new age of contracting in the NFL.  The new CBA has greatly decreased the bargaining power of any agent by assigning value to every slot picked in the draft.   

Without a doubt, the biggest negative about the whole situation is Quinn’s absence from camp.  Quinn, like any young player, needs the time in camp to learn and develop.  Perhaps this time is more valuable to somebody like Quinn who missed all of last season.  He’s a very raw athlete who needs the time in camp to not only develop his skills but also to get reacquainted to the game.  Every rep counts.  Hopefully for all parties involved, there is a prompt resolution to this dispute.

Postscript: The Rams announced via their official Twitter account that the team has come to terms with Robert Quinn, and he is expected to practice on Sunday. 

If Sam Bradford is the unquestioned star of the Rams, then new offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is the unofficial star of Rams Camp. Where Pat Shurmur was all but invisible to fans as a personality on the sidelines the last two years, the fiery McDaniels is standing out from day one.

He was in Bradford's ear all afternoon long, tutoring, cajoling, yelling, and cheering. His voice was clearly audible from across the field as the offense ran drills, commenting on every rep until the unit had satisfied him with their precision. And in a pressure drill late in the workout, McDaniels himself was the one holding the blocking pad and rushing his own quarterbacks.

His energy helped sparked a Rams camp that, due to arcane NFL rules, saw a lot of key Rams sidelined against their will. Players like Danny Amendola, John Greco, Al Harris, Quintin Mikell, Zac Diles, Harvey Dahl and Mike Sims-Walker who just signed new contracts have to stand and watch until the league year begins. 

On the sideline with me at various points were Patty of The Pigskin Arch, Ron Clements of CBS Sports, and fellow twitterers @KidNoble, @lannyosu, @BlazinBox and @capriquarius, which allowed us to cover a lot of ground. Some key highlights follow....

Red jersey season is about to begin, and everyone is all smiles.

Rams fans in St Louis can be thankful to the lockout for one thing - the jumbled up offseason schedule didn't allow the team to accede to coach Spagnuolo's desire to move their training camp out of town. So instead of a long trek to Rolla, you can pack a cooler and the kids and take a familiar drive out to Earth City. Because once again, the Rams are opening several practices to the public.

Here's the schedule, from the Rams' website: Rams Set Training Camp Dates.

Most immediately, the inaugural practice will be Friday the 29th, and the first practice open to the public will be Saturday at 1:50pm. Several of the RamsHerd writers will be out there along with two thousand or so of our closest friends, why don't you join us?

The Rams have a little more room to play in the free agency pool... but not a lot.

For those a little confused (and count me among them) by the Rams spending big on Quintin Mikell -- 4 years, $27 million dollars, with $14 million guaranteed according to reports -- just hours after it was revealed that we have only $12 mil to play with, here's some clarification.

Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal passed on a memo from the NFLPA this morning: it turns out that the new NFL salary cap (just over $120 this year) is a "soft cap." Under certain conditions, teams can spend more.

NFL.com's Albert Breer offers more details:

If I read this correctly, this savings wouldn’t get realized off the top of Mikell’s contract, but the Rams could make extra room for it by resigning some of their veterans and shifting those dollars into this “soft” area. I also hear, though I haven’t found a verified source, that teams can “borrow” up to $3 million more against future year’s cap.

That said, an extra six million doesn't give the Rams that much more flexibility. And in his first post-lockout press conference, Rams GM Billy Devaney tried to temper expectations.

So while the Rams might have kicked the tires on Sidney Rice before he went to Seattle, I doubt there was a serious play made. Rather than get these big name weapons, the Rams are going to have to contain them when they line up opposite.