By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer

UPDATE at 10 AM Saturday...

Second round draft choice Donnie Avery agreed to a four-year contract on Saturday morning. Avery was the last of the team's unsigned draft choices.

Sources told stlouisrams.com that Avery was staying in a nearby hotel and will be in camp in time for Saturday's afternoon practice.

Check back to stlouisrams.com later for more on this story.

MEQUON, Wis. – With the rest of the rookie class in camp and the two picks around him in the draft already signed, the Rams can only scratch their heads wondering why second-round choice Donnie Avery is unsigned and not in camp.

At the end of the first official day of training camp, though, Avery was nowhere to be found. While fellow drafted Keenan Burton, a fourth round pick, was making a strong first impression, Avery remained unsigned and M.I.A.

“All I can say is that it’s sort of an unusual situation with having everyone else done,” President Jay Zygmunt said. “We offered him more money than the pick behind him in this year’s second round, we offered him a little less money than the guy ahead of him and we offered him more than the same spot a year ago. I don’t know what to tell you.”

When the Miami Dolphins signed Philip Merling to a four-year contract Friday afternoon, it cemented Avery’s slot in terms of money. According to most traditional draft pick negotiations, once the two players sandwiched around a player are signed, that means he simply needs an offer somewhere in the middle.

According to Zygmunt, Avery received just such an offer including a financial improvement over what the 33rd pick in last year’s draft received in his contract.

The lack of an agreement between the Rams and agent Vann McElroy has left the Rams perplexed.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Zygmunt said. “Without the diatribe of all the details of stuff, but basically it’s something where the guy got more than the guy behind him and more than the guy got at the same spot last year. I don’t know what else to say. I am sure that with Donnie and the offseason he had and everything else that will be resolved quickly.”

Meanwhile, back at Concordia, Burton and a variety of other receivers were getting plenty of opportunities and the likes of Burton and Derek Stanley were taking full advantage of those chances.

“I know it would serve him good to get in here,” coach Scott Linehan said. “That’s one thing that would be really, really important for a young player like that that’s learning our system to not miss any practices.”