NFL rumors don't usually spring up out of backup quarterback visits, but the St. Louis Rams have had an especially rough time with the position of late—rough enough that the suggestion that David Garrard might visit the Rams this week has taken NFL free agency primacy around town. It'd be a hard sell, considering he might still start for the Miami Dolphins, but the Rams will have to do what they need to do to avoid a repeat of 2011, in which A.J. Feeley—who hadn't played in a regular-season NFL game since 2007—had to make three starts with Sam Bradford on the bench.
Garrard, who missed the 2011 season following surgery on a herniated disk, seems slightly overqualified as an unconditional backup, as he would be with the Rams; in 2010 he threw for 2734 yards and 23 touchdowns in 14 starts, and the two years before that saw him top 3500 yards.
More quarterback news around the NFC West, handpicked from SB Nation St. Louis:
- Now that the Seattle Seahawks have signed Matt Flynn...
- The Miami Dolphins' next choice could be Alex Smith, who's out of a job if...
- The San Francisco 49ers' interest in Peyton Manning is as serious as it looks.
- (If all that shakes out like so, the Rams could find themselves with David Garrard as their backup.)