Injury to Sehorn gives Herring another shot at safety position

MACOMB, Ill. -- Jason Sehorn's broken foot is giving Kim Herring, an underachiever the last two years at free safety, another chance to prove himself with the Rams.

"We underachieved last year," said defensive coordinator Lovie Smith. "At 7-9, a lot of people did, and he was a part of it.

"It's a new year and he's played a lot of good football in the league, and it's time to step up."

Big plays have been rare from Herring, who jumped from the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens to the Rams in 2001. Last year he led the team in interceptions, but had only three. He picked off only one pass in his first season with the team.

That was why the Rams went out and got Sehorn, who left the Giants after nine seasons to sign a $1 million contract. Sehorn came to training camp as the starting free safety, and had been making a quick transition to the new position after playing cornerback his entire NFL career.

"Jason had transitioned extremely well and we were just getting to know each other back there, so certainly it's a big blow to the team," cornerback Aeneas Williams said. "I think we'll be OK, but certainly we're looking forward to getting Jason back as soon as possible."

Sehorn will be sidelined about 10 weeks, which would knock him out of at least the first four or five games of the regular season. A 2 1-2-inch screw was inserted in his foot during a half-hour operation in St. Louis on Monday.

"No doubt, it's disappointing," Smith said. "Jason's not out for the season, so other players have to step up."

Sehorn had a realistic outlook to the setback. He missed the entire 1998 season with a knee injury.

"He's bummed, but normally when you have a veteran that's played in the league a while he's been down," Smith said. "Jason has had some injuries that have really been a lot more severe than this one right here.

"Now it's rehab and coming back and that's how he's looking at it."

After spending Monday night in a St. Louis hospital, Sehorn will spend four or five days in Dallas, where he has a home, said coach Mike Martz. Sehorn is supposed to rejoin the team before the opening exhibition Aug. 8 at Oakland.

"There's no reason to bring him up here and throw him in the dorm so that he can watch a walkthrough," Martz said. "He'll have 10 weeks to watch all that we do."

Earlier in camp Martz praised Herring for having a good attitude about his demotion. To this point, it's been Herring's best camp by far with the Rams, Martz said.

"I knew I had to work hard, because you never know what's going to happen," Herring said.

"I might outplay this guy and be moved back to starter.

"You can't accept the fact you're going to be a backup forever."

Before Sehorn's injury, Herring characterized it as a "totally friendly" competition.

"He's been in the league long enough and I've been in the league long enough to know this stuff happens," Herring said. "You can't worry about it."

Herring knows he hasn't been a hit with the Rams. He said an undisclosed family problem is partly to blame for distracting him from the game.

"It's been a little up and down for whatever reason," Herring said. "I think it could have been better, and actually it should have been better, but that's two years in the past."

Herring had been in a bit of danger of becoming a salary cap casualty. He put that out of his mind.

"If I don't have control over something, I really don't worry about it," Herring said. "I'm more worried about Powerball numbers.

"I just don't get mad at things I can't control because you can give yourself an ulcer, you've just got to roll with the flow." Notes: The morning practice was washed out by rain so the Rams moved indoors for a walkthrough. "We went through all the things that we were going to put in in the morning anyway, we just didn't do it on the dead run like we would normally do," Martz said. ... FB J.R. Niklos is getting a push for the starting job, with undrafted free agent Chad Kuhns getting some reps with the first unit on Monday.