Rams working to trade Brockers

On Tuesday, the Rams were working to finalize a deal to trade veteran defensive lineman Michael Brockers to the Detroit Lions, a person with knowledge of the situation said.

The person requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly until the deal becomes official.

Brockers, 30, was chosen by the Rams with the 14th pick in the 2012 NFL draft and is the team’s longesttenured defensive player.

This is the second year in a row that Brockers ostensibly will depart the Rams. Last March, he agreed to terms with Baltimore on a free-agent contract, but the deal fell through because of concerns about an ankle injury. The Rams re-signed Brockers to a three-year contract. He was due to carry a salary cap number of $9.8 million this season.

The Rams began the week about $33 million over the salary cap of $182.5 million. To make room before Wednesday’s deadline — the start of the NFL’s new league year — they were expected to rework the contracts of several players, including, perhaps, Brockers.

On Monday, the Rams announced that they had agreed to terms to re-sign edge rusher Leonard Floyd.

On Tuesday, they announced that they were under the cap.

Brockers’ departure would mark the third by a key defensive player in the last two days. On Monday, safety John Johnson reached terms with Cleveland and linebacker Samson Ebukam did the same with San Francisco.

In other Rams news Tuesday, NFL.com reported that running back Malcolm Brown agreed to a freeagent contract with Miami. Also, defensive lineman Derek Rivers agreed to terms with Houston, according to a tweet by his agent.