Aaron Cox Signs 4-Year Contract With Rams

Wide receiver Aaron Cox, unable to put a lifelong dream on holdout any longer, signed a 4-year, $1.55-million deal with the Rams Tuesday morning and immediately reported to afternoon practice.

Cox’s signing leaves only two unsigned Rams, top pick Gaston Green and third-round choice Mike Piel, though there is a sense that Green may be on his way to signing soon.

Both Cox and Green figure to play big roles in the Rams’ offense, with Cox expected to take over the starting wide receiver position vacated by Ron Brown.

How glad was Cox to be in camp?

“I’m real glad,” he said. “I had trouble sleeping at night. It was real hard to concentrate on my workouts. I wanted to be in camp. It got to be a real drag.”

Cox, from Arizona State, was one of two first-round picks of the Rams and the 20th player chosen overall. He attended Dorsey High School in Los Angeles and has been a die-hard Ram fan since childhood.

Cox grew up in the shadow of the Coliseum, and he all but blushed and asked for autographs when he met Ram luminaries-turned-coaches Lawrence McCutcheon and Cullen Bryant at mini-camp in May.

The Cox deal, as it turned out, was about the same money package as the one the Rams pulled off the table July 12, according to those close to the deal. It was just structured differently.

Cox will receive a $600,000 signing bonus, with half the money deferred and then paid out in three $100,000 increments starting in 1989.

Cox’s agent, Ernie Wright, wasn’t completely satisfied with the contract, but felt it was more important to get his player to camp.

“For him, it will be fulfilling a lifelong dream,” Wright said. “So when you get into arguing over 1% of the contract . . . that was a contributing factor.”

Cox agreed. He told Wright he wanted to be in camp no later than the end of this week, when veterans report.

This, of course, might have taken some negotiating leverage away from his agent and may have cost Cox the few thousand dollars a lengthy holdout might have brought.

“It wasn’t worth the holdout,” Cox said. “I wanted to be in camp. I wanted to get this contract business out of the way and get down to the real business, which is playing ball.”

The hero in getting the deal done, Wright said, was Ram administrative assistant Tank Younger, who served as intermediary after talks between Wright and Jay Zygmunt broke down late Monday night.

“Jay and I had talked ourselves out,” Wright said. “We needed some fresh blood in the situation.”

Discussions resumed Tuesday morning and the contract was signed at about 11:45 a.m. Cox arrived at afternoon practice at Cal State Fullerton in street clothes, whereupon Robinson ordered him to the locker room for a uniform fitting.

“You’re catching your first pass in 11 minutes,” Robinson said, jokingly.

Offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese and receivers coach Norval Turner said later that the weeklong holdout for both Cox and Anderson, who signed Monday, hasn’t had much effect on the players because both attended May’s mini-camp.

“They’ve retained a lot in the period of time they worked,” Robinson said. “That will be a valuable asset.”

Ram Notes

More twists in the Aaron Cox contract: He will receive base salaries of $160,000 (plus $12,500 report bonus), $195,000 (plus $17,500 if Cox is involved in more than 40% of the Rams offense in 1988), $230,000 ($20,000 to report) and $265,000 ($50,000 reporting bonus). . . . It was a short Ram career for former UCLA tight end Tim Wrightman, who signed Friday and retired Monday. “It came down to it not being any fun anymore,” Wrightman said. Wrightman, 28, was an All-American at UCLA and then became the first player to sign with the United States Football League (Chicago Blitz).