As Rams players departed after the final OTA Tuesday, they received a warning from coach Steve Spagnuolo: You can get away and relax somewhat for the next six weeks. But you better be ready when training camp begins.


Because, as Spagnuolo said, "The way it’s laid out, the first five days are definitely a bear. The way it’s laid out, the times the practices are going to be, the length of practices and typically if you don’t come in shape and in the right frame of mind, you run the risk of getting injured and not being up to speed for what we want to do. Now after that it doesn’t get that much easier, but it tends to thin out a little bit and they’re able to survive. I think any of these camps have to be like that. I mentioned this the other day to the team that it’s between now and really the first game or through the preseason games that you establish the foundation that helps you win in November and December. I believe that.”


Rams rookies, quarterbacks and selected veterans will report July 29 and have two practices the following day. The remainder of the team will report July 30, with the first full-squad practice July 31. Many NFL teams, including the Rams under Scott Linehan, adopted a camp regimen that alternated two practices one day, then one the next. That won’t be the case with Spagnuolo’s Rams. The first five days will have two practices each day.


Noting that he hasn’t experienced the St. Louis heat in mid-summer, Spagnuolo said, when asked if there will be any night practices, “I’ve put a lot of thought into it. We’re ready with a couple of different options. I’d like to keep them in the day right now. There’s some night practices sprinkled in there. We always have the capability if it got really too rough on them to go indoors to protect them from the sun. We kind of have an open plan; we’ll just play it with Mother Nature.”


The Rams won’t scrimmage against any other NFL team during camp, and most practices are expected to be open to the public. The exact schedule will be announced around mid-July. Now, it’s just time for a break after an offseason program that began in March. Coaches will work through Saturday, then be given off until July 27.


Asked what it’s like as a coach after this much time together to say goodbye to his team for six weeks, Spagnuolo said, “I got lost, what do I do now? None of the guys are here. No, this is part of it. I think they do need to get away from … they certainly need to get away from me, the coaches, from each other. Be with families and wrapped around all that they still need to be working. We don’t want them to lose anything in the strength development part of it, certainly the conditioning. I think they all understand that. Certainly the guys that have been in this league in previous years do. But I probably need a little bit of a break somewhere along the way too. My wife’s glad that they’re all gone now.”


As for his final (for now) message to the team, Spagnuolo said, “We talked about a vision. You have to have a vision and a belief in that vision before you can do anything. I asked them to believe in what we built in these last 14 weeks of the offseason. Let that carry them through the (six) weeks of work that they have between now and training camp. When we get back here together we’ll hit the ground running and see what happens. But again, like I just got done saying, I asked them to not be about bold predictions, don’t worry about long range, let’s take it one day at a time, one phase at a time. They’re in another phase now. The phase is the offseason program they’ve gone through it, they have (six) weeks where they’re on their own that they can maintain that and then we get back here to training camp.”


One thing Spagnuolo does like is the character and willingness to work his team exhibited during the offseason. He said, “I’ll tell you this, I do know that it’s a bunch of hard working guys. I told them yesterday as they departed that I thought we had enough character, enough talent and enough guys that are driven that we can accomplish whatever we want. Whatever we decide we want to accomplish I think we can do that.”


But, he reiterated, talking doesn’t mean much. Spagnuolo concluded, “You have to have a little bit of confidence in what you can do, but to me it’s not about bold predictions, it’s not about looking into the crystal ball. It’s one day at a time and that’s what we’ll do. If we can do that hopefully something positive can come out of it.”


SIMPLY NOTING


*Spagnuolo reiterated that the Rams are not a team that will be interested in quarterback Michael Vick if he is reinstated by the NFL after the house arrest portion of his sentence ends July 20. Said Spagnuolo, “I think (general manager) Billy (Devaney) has already addressed that. That’s a non-story.”


*The Rams released and re-signed long snapper Chris Massey this week. Entering the final year of a four-year contract he signed in 2006, Massey was scheduled to be paid the league minimum of $745,000. By terminating that contract and signing him to a new, one-year contract worth the same $745,000, all of it doesn’t count against the salary cap. Massey’s cap charge is now $460,000 instead of $745,000, plus a prorated $75,000 from his 2006 signing bonus of $300,000.


*The Rams might be adding another FOBD (friend of Billy Devaney) to the roster. Wednesday, the team put in a claim for Renardo Foster, who was waived by the Falcons, Devaney’s previous team, on Tuesday. After June 1 and before training camps start, the claiming period for waivers is three days, so the Rams won’t know if they have Foster until Friday. A 6-7, 340-pound tackle from Louisville, Foster signed with the Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He made the team, playing in seven games and starting two at left tackle before suffering a torn ACL against New Orleans on Oct. 21. That injury landed him on the physically unable to perform list in 2008, and he didn’t play at all last season.


Foster was said to be moving well in OTAs, although the team’s new coaching staff that came in last year was not said to be enamored with him. Denver also put in a claim for Foster. The Rams will be assigned Foster unless the Lions put in a claim. Detroit has been awarded seven players on waivers during the offseason.