Veteran safety Eric Weddle agreed to a two-year deal

Los Angeles Rams on Friday Khari Willis Jersey , returning to his native Southern California to join the defending NFC champions’ secondary.The Rams also released starting linebacker Mark Barron, continuing a shuffle of veteran personnel after going 13-3 in the regular season and reaching the Super Bowl last month.Weddle joins the Rams after a 12-year pro career with San Diego and Baltimore, where he spent the past three seasons. The six-time Pro Bowl selection was released Tuesday after starting all 16 games last year for the Ravens, who elected to get younger.The 34-year-old Weddle is a year older than Rams coach Sean McVay, but he could be exactly what Los Angeles’ secondary needs. He is nearly certain to take the starting job held by Lamarcus Joyner, who is expected to leave as a free agent.Joyner was a starter for the past two years, but Weddle is widely regarded as one of the NFL’s best free safeties. The heavily bearded veteran didn’t have an interception last season for just the second time in his career, but he made 68 tackles on the Ravens’ stellar defense and played an important leadership role in Baltimore Josh Allen Jersey , just as he did in San Diego.Weddle is also durable, starting all 16 games in nine of the last 11 seasons for the Chargers and Ravens.He adds even more experience to the Rams’ secondary alongside 33-year-old cornerback Aqib Talib and two-time Pro Bowl selection Marcus Peters. Talib is second among active players in career interceptions with 35, while Weddle is ninth with 29.Promising two-year pro John Johnson is the Rams’ other starting safety.Weddle grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, one of Los Angeles’ outer suburbs, before starring at Utah and joining the Chargers as a second-round pick.Barron started 12 regular-season games and all three playoff games for the Rams last season, making 74 combined tackles. The seven-year pro was the seventh overall pick by Tampa Bay in 2012, and he joined the Rams in a trade during the 2014 season.Barron has been a starter for the past four seasons for the Rams. He was about to enter the fourth season of a five-year, $45 million deal.Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh Jawaan Taylor Jersey , edge rusher Dante Fowler and cornerback Sam Shields also are expected to hit unrestricted free agency this month. The Rams haven’t ruled out bringing back all three veterans. Thursday’s press conference from Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was eventful, for a variety of reasons. Beyond vowing to restore the “nasty” to a team that allowed its expectations to be set too high for 2018 (and that seemed to believe it would be far easier to get back to the final four than it was), explaining the very real connection between the passing of Tony Sparano and the team’s overall struggles, and discussing what Zimmer learned from the misfired hiring of John DeFilippo to be the successor to offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, Zimmer shrugged at the fact that his contract is set to expire after the 2019 season.He shouldn’t.With no security beyond 2019, Zimmer necessarily will have a harder time getting his first choice to run the offense for the coming season. While the candidate surely would be offered a multi-year deal, stepping into what seems to be a one-year, up-or-out mandate is hardly ideal.The Vikings can fix this by giving Zimmer an extension now. The fact that Zimmer doesn’t have one Josh Oliver Jersey , while largely downplayed by the media, threatens to hover over the franchise in a negative way throughout the offseason and into 2019.Yes, plenty of teams have been in this posture. But given that Zimmer is a defensive expert and given the critical importance of finding someone who can take the various pieces of the Minnesota offense and make it all work immediately (even if he won’t be able to meet with his players until April), the intense pressure coupled with the very real prospect of not only being a one-year resident of Minnesota but also the linchpin for the ongoing employment of the rest of the coaching staff makes it a job that offensive coaches with choices won’t be included to choose to accept.