ST. LOUIS (AP) – The St. Louis Rams have designated five-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Orlando Pace as their franchise player.

Jay Zygmunt, the Rams’ president of football operations, said Saturday at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis that the necessary paperwork could be filed as soon as Monday, a day before the deadline for franchise player designations.

Pace’s agent, Carl Poston, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Pace turned down the Rams’ earlier offer of a seven-year contract worth more than $42 million, including a $13 million signing bonus – the largest in Rams history, eclipsing Torry Holt’s $12.5 million signing bonus last July.

“They didn’t expect me to accept that. That’s an offer made just to say, ‘We made an offer,”‘ Poston said, calling the terms well below Pace’s market value.

The Rams placed the franchise tag on Pace last year after a Poston proposal sought a signing bonus of nearly $24 million and a potential overall payout of nearly $85 million over seven years. Both figures were about twice what the Rams were prepared to pay.

During negotiations, Pace skipped all of the team’s offseason activities and missed training camp at Western Illinois University before reporting.

A designated franchise player must be given a one-year qualifying offer by his club equal to the average of the five highest-paid players at his position the previous season. This year, the franchise number for offensive linemen is $7.02 million, up from $5.73 million a year ago.

Both parties still can agree on a multiyear contract before March 17. After that, the sides cannot negotiate again until July 15.

Poston called the franchise designation now is “kind of a no-harm, no-foul thing,” and said that negotiations would continue.

AP-ES-02-21-04 1930EST