MEQUON, Wis. -- Holdout running back Steven Jackson missed
his seventh day and 10th practice of St. Louis Rams training camp
Thursday, with no apparent movement in the impasse.
Jackson, entering the final season of a four-year contract he
signed after the Rams drafted him in the first round in 2004, is
seeking a multiyear deal. The Rams are fining Jackson, who has
three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, $15,000 a day and have told
his agent, Eugene Parker, there will be no more negotiations until
Jackson reports to camp.
Parker has not responded to a telephone message from the AP.
Rams coach Scott Linehan was late to the field for practice, prompting curiosity,
but said that was because he was meeting with some players. He and
Jackson have been text-messaging back and forth, and Linehan said
he spoke to the running back on the telephone "the other night."
"I called him, talked to him briefly to see how he was doing,"
Linehan said. "It has nothing to do with anything other than
letting him know that everything's going to be OK."