ST. LOUIS -- The Rams released linebacker Chris Draft on Thursday after the 11-year NFL veteran declined to take a pay cut in the final year of his three-year contract.
Draft made 16 starts in two seasons with St. Louis and had been listed first on the team's depth chart heading into Sunday's opener against the Seattle Seahawks. Last season, Draft made eight starts and had 38 tackles.
The Rams re-signed linebacker Quinton Culberson, who had been among the final cuts last week, to fill the roster spot. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
Running back Steven Jackson didn't learn of Draft's release until just before practice. David Vobora, a seventh-round draft pick who inherits Draft's starting spot, noticed the position meeting room was shy one player, and he didn't have a chance to thank the veteran for his help.
"In our business, we've learned to kind of adjust on the fly, and that's what it's going to take," Jackson said. "We're going to need those young guys stepping up and becoming leaders. It may be a little faster than you'd want ideally."
First-year Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo had little to say about the move, which saved the team $380,000. He declined to judge Draft's performance and emphasized it was a team decision.
"None of these moves are easy," Spagnuolo said. "It's a tough business in a lot of ways. We've got a lot of respect and appreciation for Chris Draft and what he did both on and off the field."
Vobora, the last overall pick of the 2008 draft, had a lot of work with the first-string defense in preseason games and practice. That included this week, and Spagnuolo said "there was a chance" Vobora would have started the opener in any case.
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"Hopefully," the coach said, "we won't skip a beat."
Draft was the third-oldest player with the Rams, who have been transformed from one of the oldest teams in the NFL to the third-youngest since the end of last season. He previously played for the Chicago Bears (1998), San Francisco 49ers (1999), Atlanta Falcons (2000-04) and Carolina Panthers (2005-06).
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
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