[Indrid Cold]

Barnwell did a piece on teams getting cap compliant, which included the Rams. While it sounds pretty easy...and probably is some form of what the Rams will do...there is the kicking-the-can-down the road aspect of this. Using Barnwell's 3 suggestions, here's the impact.

1. These two seem like a no-choice scenario and not too big of a deal. Adds $4.5M to Donald's cap number for 2022-2024...his cap charges now are $22.25M, $19M, and $21.75M for those years. Ramsey adds $3.2M for future years. But that's makes it $27.75M for Donald and $23.2M for Ramsey in 2022 (both of which I'd assume would rank pretty high in non-QB cap hits for 2022, perhaps No. 1 again for Donald). And probably eliminates capability to restructure in the future.

2. These two seem ok, too, as neither player has significant dead cap on future years. Adds $3M to Kupp's number for 2022 and 2023. And $2.2M per year to Woods through 2025. But Kupp's 2022 charge would be $19M and Wood's $16M. $35M for a WR duo may seem like a lot in 2022 and this takes away flexibility, particularly with Woods contract (the savings from getting out in 2022 would drop from $13M to $4M).

3. This suggestion seems dumb to gain only $3M in space this year. And a $60M signing bonus would put a shit ton of potential dead money into Stafford's contract going forward. Doing it now would seem like making the Goff mistake all over again. But Barnwell's point is that the Ram's get the next 2 years to absorb $24M of the $60M without increasing Stafford's cap number in those years much at all.


https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/ ... eir-roster

Los Angeles Rams
Projected cap space: Minus-$27.6 million

Key free agents: Edge Leonard Floyd, CB Troy Hill, TE Gerald Everett, S John Johnson, WR Josh Reynolds

1. Restructure DT Aaron Donald and CB Jalen Ramsey. The Rams haven't typically gone the major restructure route with their big contracts. One exception came last year, when they converted $9 million of quarterback Jared Goff's salary into a signing bonus. The organization wouldn't have made that choice if it knew it was going to trade Goff less than a year later, but it's too late to worry about that now.

As far as franchise building blocks go, it's difficult to imagine the Rams moving on from their two defensive cornerstones. Donald has the largest cap hit of any non-quarterback in football at $27.9 million, which the team will likely address with a restructure. The future Hall of Famer has a $19,892,000 base salary this season and four years left to go on his contract. Converting $18 million of that figure into a signing bonus would free up $13.5 million in 2021 cap space.

Ramsey, meanwhile, has a $17.5 million base salary as he begins his five-year, $100 million extension. Converting $16 million of that base into a signing bonus frees up $12.8 million for the team in 2021. These two moves free up $26.3 million in cap space, which gets the Rams within a rounding error of complying with the salary cap. Given their holes on defense, though, Los Angeles will have to do more to free up space.

2. Restructure WRs Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp. The Rams will have to get some help from their two starting wide receivers, who have the fourth- and fifth-largest cap hits on the roster. Converting $9 million of Kupp's $10.5 million base salary and $11 million of Woods' $12.5 million base into signing bonuses frees up an additional $14.8 million in cap space. Now they can start considering free agents at moderate prices.

3. Extend QB Matthew Stafford. There have been reports that Stafford will play out the final two years of his deal with the Rams, but L.A. didn't trade its starting quarterback and two first-round picks with the intention of having Stafford around for a couple of years. Stafford has team-friendly cap hits of $20 million and $23 million over the next two seasons, but the Rams will need to extend their new starter at some point. Using these two upcoming seasons as runway gives them the most financial flexibility as they get an extension done.

Again, let's take a look at how that might eventually go down. Let's say Stafford gets a four-year, $164 million extension. Adding that to his current deal means the Rams have to account for six years and $207 million. Can general manager Les Snead do that while simultaneously reducing Stafford's 2020 cap hit?

YEAR BASE SALARY SIGNING BONUS CAP HIT
2021 $5,000,000 $12,000,000 $17,000,000
2022 $16,000,000 $12,000,000 $28,000,000
2023 $23,000,000 $12,000,000 $35,000,000
2024 $29,000,000 $12,000,000 $41,000,000
2025 $33,000,000 $12,000,000 $45,000,000
2026 $41,000,000 $0 $41,000,000

He can! Giving Stafford a $60 million signing bonus and a $5 million base salary means Stafford would get a significant raise while simultaneously dropping the veteran's cap hit by $3 million. (The $60 million bonus only prorates over the first five years of the contract by NFL rule.) This deal would keep the quarterback's cap hits over the first two years of the deal in line with what he is set to make over the final two years of his current deal while saving the more significant cap hits for 2023 and beyond, when the Rams (and the league) should be in better cap shape.

[majik]

Kicking the can down the road is not a concern with the cap set to explode upward when the new TV deal kicks in

[snackdaddy]

If they're all in to win the next couple years I can see them doing it. They need an edge rusher whether its keeping Floyd or signing someone else. They also need a quality center. Maybe an ILB while we're at it.

[PARAM]

If they're all in to win the next couple years I can see them doing it. They need an edge rusher whether its keeping Floyd or signing someone else. They also need a quality center. Maybe an ILB while we're at it.

So.....just like 2020 right?

We let Fowler walk so we needed a quality pass rusher. All we got was Floyd, who had his best year as a rookie.
We needed an ILB because we lost Littleton. We pinned our hopes on Micah Kizer who was in the tub as much as he was on the field and then once healthy couldn't get back on the field because Troy Reeder.....that's right THAT Troy Reeder was playing so good in the middle of the NFL's #1 defense.

We needed a center on offense but we resigned Blythe and the offense went from #11 in scoring to #22 and from #7 in yards to #11. **But we got rid of the problem for all that a few weeks ago!!! So perhaps we resign, AustinRichSaulBlythe? We did go from #26 in rushing to #10!!!!

[safer]

I'm not as down as on Blythe as most are here. He isn't the most powerful, but he does a solid job on the line calls and I can't see us spending a lot at that position. Maybe, we draft a rookie in the 2nd or 4th to compete with him,

[snackdaddy]

I'm not as down as on Blythe as most are here. He isn't the most powerful, but he does a solid job on the line calls and I can't see us spending a lot at that position. Maybe, we draft a rookie in the 2nd or 4th to compete with him,

Based on his comments it appears McVay is not as down on Blythe as the fans are. Maybe he sees things we don't? Maybe its more of scheme problems and that is why Kromer left? Maybe they didn't agree on the scheme McVay wanted to run?

[Hacksaw]

So $41M if these guys agree and we can't afford anything else. The cap needs to go up again.
Thanks for postin @Indrid Cold

[Elvis]