Although the St. Louis Rams released safety O.J. Atogwe on Friday, he hasn't ruled out returning to the team next season, saying that he would be open to a new deal with them.
"My agent and myself have established a really good negotiating relationship with them, so were we to do something again (with the Rams), I don't believe it'd be a difficult task," Atogwe told the Post-Dispatch. "Because there's no bad blood there. We should be able to get something done."
If things don't work out and Atogwe ends up not returning to St. Louis, any team interested in his services will have to wait to sign him until after a new collective bargaining agreement is in place. Atogwe could sign with any team until the CBA expires on March 4, but he would rather wait until free agency opens to sign somewhere.
"I would say I'm just going to take this time to let God speak to me and go from there," Atogwe said. "I am going to wait till the market opens and then go from there."
I'm sure quite a few players feel the same way with waiting for free agency to start before signing somewhere. The problem with that is there's no telling how long a lockout could last if there is one. A player could be waiting months and months and months before he can even sign a contract. That is likely partly why Erik Coleman decided to sign with the Lions on Friday. He was able to land somewhere before the CBA expires and now doesn't have to worry about waiting for a potential lockout to end to find a team.