Posted by Andy Benoit

The best veteran wide receiver available on the open market this offseason will likely be Mike Sims-Walker. But the soon-to-be former Jaguar is not on the open market just yet. Which is why eyebrows are raised by the tweet from Charlie Bernstein of FOX Sports saying Sims-Walker has been contacted by the St. Louis Rams and Houston Texans.

If true, this contact would classify as tampering. Tampering is like underage drinking: against the rules, but very difficult to police. With players sharing agents and everyone in the NFL knowing everyone else, it’s nearly impossible to not violate the letter of the tampering rule.

That said, like underage drinking, there are repercussions when a known violation has occurred.

NFL Offseason

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From a football perspective, the Rams’ interest in Sims-Walker makes sense. Even if Donnie Avery can fully recover from his ’10 knee injury and free agent Mark Clayton re-signs (Clayton is also recovering from a serious knee injury), Sims-Walkers’ possession type skills could still be of great service. In new offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ system, three-and four-receiver sets are standard.

Sims-Walker would offer to McDaniels the same kind of skill set that Brandon Marshall did in Denver.

As for the Texans, they have a reliable compliment to Andre Johnson in Kevin Walter, but it’s time to replace the gifted but wildly inconsistent Jacoby Jones.

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