St. Louis Rams may trade Steven Jackson - FanIQ (blog)

Internet appears certain that Rams will trade Steven Jackson

Yesterday in NFL   |   JoeKukura   |   248 respect

Looking for an NFL running back in his prime who's averaging 4.2 yards per carry this month? Tell your team's GM to pick up the phone and dial the Rams, because apparently St. Louis is fielding phone calls and entertaining trade offers for three-time Pro Bowl running back Steven Jackson.

That doesn't mean Jackson is going to be traded, nor does it mean the Rams are actively shopping the franchise's all-time leading rusher. St. Louis is merely listening to offers. But several of your favorite internet-scribes and NFL know-it-alls are insisting the there is a high likelihood that the Rams will indeed trade Steven Jackson this week.

There is plenty of trade interest in Steven Jackson, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Jackson is in the final season of his contract, and will be an unrestricted free agent at year's end.

This is news to many of us non-Ramophiles who just found out about Jackson's potential availability in today's Tuesday Mailbag edition of Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback column. "I'd put the chances at 55 percent that Jackson, the 29-year-old running back with a couple of good years left in the tank, will be traded, based on the opinion of one AFC personnel man this morning," King writes.

Peter King is NFL-knowledgeable as all heck, but he has one of his facts wrong when he claims that "Jackson is due $10.7 million through the end of the 2013 season -- $3.7 for the rest of this year, $7 million next season." The Rams have allowed Jackson to void the final year of his contract. Jackson is not due a dime in the 2013 season until someone signs him.

The Rams, King guesstimates, are holding out for a third or fourth-round draft pick in return for Jackson.

Kevin Seifert at ESPN says the Packers are interested in Jackson, NBC Dallas says the Cowboys are in the Jackson sweepstakes, and random idiots at the Bleacher Report who will post anything say the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers also covet Steven Jackson.

We'll know for sure by Thursday, when the NFL trade deadline comes and goes at 4 p.m. ET Thursday.