Les Snead said earlier this month that he didn’t anticipate the Los Angeles Rams using the franchise tag on any of their free agents. It turns out, that wasn’t a smokescreen. The Rams GM stuck to his word as Los Angeles decided not to use the tag this offseason.
The deadline to apply the tag to one player was at 11:59 a.m. ET Monday, just before the legal tampering period opened at noon.
The only real candidates for the tag were Cory Littleton and Dante Fowler Jr., each of whom would’ve cost the Rams more than $15 million for one season if franchised. Having limited cap space, Los Angeles decided against committing that much money to one player.
What the Rams did pass up is the chance to trade one of those two players after tagging them. It’s a move we saw with Jadeveon Clowney, Dee Ford and Frank Clark last year, all of whom were traded after being tagged by their respective teams.
Sean McVay, Snead and the Rams front office have some difficult decisions coming up with Andrew Whitworth, Michael Brockers, Greg Zuerlein and Austin Blythe all hitting free agency this week, too.