Dispatches

When they traded defensive end Kevin Carter to the Titans for the 29th pick in the April draft, the Rams were bashed by the media for getting too little for the 1999 NFL sack leader. Carter, whose sacks dropped from 17 two years ago to 10� last season, might play well for Tennessee, but he was benched at one point last year and had become a cancer in the St. Louis locker room. In a draft deep with defensive players, the Rams should get a productive starter with their own selection at No. 20 or at that 29th spot....

"You think you've seen a bloodletting now?" one general manager said of the flooding of the free-agent market with veterans who are getting squeezed out by the salary cap. "Wait till June. You'll see a bunch of teams cutting to the bone so they can get a bunch of proven starters for near minimum salary. The pool of decent players will be huge."...

There was universal shock at the league meetings last week when word spread that quarterback Drew Henson was skipping his last year at Michigan and the chance to be the top choice in the 2002 draft to sign a six-year, $17 million contract with the Yankees. If he were the first player chosen next April, Henson, a third baseman, would have most likely earned nearly $17 million in signing bonus and salary in his first season alone....

Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin says as many as 15 rookies could make his team this year because the club's cap woes will require him to keep as many minimum-salary players as possible. To put that into perspective, when Jacksonville and Carolina came into the league as expansion teams in 1995, they had 10 and seven rookies, respectively, on their active opening-week rosters....

Don't count on Denver's losing any home field advantage when its new stadium opens this season. At old Mile High Stadium 40% of the stands had floors covered in steel. At new Invesco Field 100% will. That, coupled with upper decks that are 15 feet closer to the field, is expected to make the Denver crowd even louder. Denver will probably kick off its regular season at home, in a Monday-nighter against the Giants on Sept. 10.