By Nick Wagoner

Senior Writer

MEQUON , Wis. – As the Rams prepare for their second plane ride of the preseason, they are once again doing it with a vacant seat where running back Steven Jackson was supposed to be.

Jackson missed Tuesday’s morning practice, the 16^th workout of training camp he has missed. Those 16 sessions fall within a 12-day period of missed time resulting in a fine of $15,116 per day. That brings Jackson ’s total fines to a whopping $181,392.

“It will have to work itself out,” coach Scott Linehan said. “These things, there has never been a timetable. If you have a timetable you set yourself up for disappointment. I am going to be very pleased when it does happen. In the meantime, I will focus on the guys that are here and this Tennessee trip and it will all work out.”

More than any monetary losses, though, Jackson could be costing himself an opportunity to cash in during free agency sooner than later.

According to NFL rules, Jackson had to report to camp by Tuesday in order to maintain his accrued seasons. The rules states that a player must be in camp 30 days before the start of the regular season.

In this case, the season opener is Sept. 4 when Washington and the New York Giants square off.

Because Jackson has not reported and isn’t likely to arrive today, he could cost himself the opportunity to hit the market under the following possible but not necessarily probable scenario.

In May of this year, the owners decided to shorten the current collective bargaining agreement in hopes of negotiating a new deal in time for the 2011 season. Should no agreement be reached, the minimum requirement for unrestricted free agency would go from four years to six.

Jackson has been in the league four years and his contract would expire after this season were he to play it out. Assuming Jackson reports in the next few weeks, he would then need a contract extension to avoid the possibility that he could have to wait two years to become a free agent. Barring that, the Rams could simply slap the franchise tag on him for 2009 and he would be forced to accrue his fifth season then. With no agreement in place, the uncapped year of 2010 would be his sixth season and he would become a free agent after that season.

Even if he reported on Wednesday, he would still lose that year of  accrued seniority. In other words, though he could in theory play five seasons in the NFL through this year, only four of them would count.

That would mean the 2009 season would actually count as his fifth season and he would have to complete that year and the 2010 season before he could hit the free agent market.

By the time 2010 would roll around, Jackson would be 27, which would put him on what would normally be the down side of a career for a running back.

Again, all of that is assuming that the owners can’t come up with an agreement for a new CBA in the next year or so and that the Rams and Jackson don’t agree on a long term contract upon his return.

The Rams made Jackson a contract offer on the eve of training camp, an offer that Jackson and agent Eugene Parker turned down the following day.

Soon after that, Parker informed President of Football Operations Jay Zygmunt that Jackson would not be reporting to camp. Zygmunt responded by letting it be known that the Rams would not negotiate further until Jackson arrived in camp.

True to their word, there have been no further discussions on a contract with Jackson since that time.

While Linehan says he remains calm about the situation, the closer the season gets to arrival, the less the possibility that Jackson could be ready to play. Jackson has copies of the team’s daily Scripts and has been able to follow along with the goings on of practice but that isn’t the same as the physical repetition required to get in football shape.

Jackson remains in contact with players and staff but has showed no signs of budging from his current stance.

Linehan says he will remain unruffled by the situation unless it gets to the point where the Rams are preparing for the regular season opener against Philadelphia . In the meantime, he’s pleased with what he’s seeing from backup runners Antonio Pittman and Brian Leonard.

“If he’s not here when we have our first week of practice for the Philly game, I would be pretty concerned,” Linehan said. “I don’t foresee that. I don’t think anybody knows when it’s going to happen. I am very confident it will and in the meantime I am really happy our other backs are getting this work. I think we have answered a lot of questions we might have and we still have some. I think it really helps us in the evaluation of our roster, especially behind him.”