Teams and players don’t often provide much insight on contract negotiations, but the Rams and Robert Woods are being fairly open about the wide receiver’s financial situation. And by the sound of it, Woods could be extended as soon as Friday.
Sean McVay was on a Zoom call with reporters Thursday and expressed confidence that the Rams will get a deal done with Woods in the near future, making it clear that it’s a priority for the team to extend its talented wide receiver. That might seem difficult to do after the Rams just signed Jalen Ramsey and Cooper Kupp to lucrative extensions, but L.A. can and will make it work.
“We want to get him extended too. He’s a huge part of what we’re doing. So, that’s something that, I think, is definitely important. You absolutely talk to your players about that,” McVay said. “Robert and Cooper have been pillars of what we’ve done the last few years, and great to be able to get Cooper under contract, so happy for him, and you can expect to see something similar down the line here very shortly we’re working towards for Robert.”
The key words in McVay’s answer are “very shortly,” which is a sign that the two sides are nearing a deal. There are no reports from insiders that the Rams are on the verge of re-signing Woods, but they’re not a team that typically has much information leak out.
But as if McVay’s comments weren’t assuring enough, Woods echoed even greater confidence on his video conference with reporters. He said he hopes to have an agreement as early as Friday and could even put pen to paper tomorrow before the team leaves for Philadelphia on Saturday.
#Rams WR Robert Woods said he hopes to sign a new contract as early as Friday. "It's time to get paid what what I'm capable of being paid, up there with the best of the best," said Woods, who was top-15 in yards among WRs in 2018-19 but is 37th in salary.https://t.co/YSjRGwFHnm
— Kevin Modesti (@KevinModesti) September 18, 2020
Robert Woods echoes what Sean McVay told us earlier: Optimism is pretty high that a deal gets done this week. He has to talk to his agent today but he could even feasibly walk in tomorrow morning and sign. Woods, smiling huge, just says it simply needs to get done.
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) September 18, 2020
The Rams currently have $7.72 million in cap space this year, which is plenty to make Woods’ deal work considering he’s already under contract and has a cap hit of $8.2 million this year. They could even lower his cap hit by pushing money out to future years, if they wanted to create cap space for a roster move or two this season.
Woods is currently making $6.8 million per year after signing a $34 million contract for five years in 2017. That makes him the 38th-highest paid receiver in football, but there’s no question he’s played better than his salary makes him out to be.
[vertical-gallery id=638110]