Salary cap space isn’t something the Rams usually have much of. They much prefer to pay star players rather than saving their money to carry over to the next year.
The big contracts they’ve given out to Aaron Donald, Cooper Kupp, Jalen Ramsey, Matthew Stafford, Bobby Wagner and Allen Robinson limit the available cap space they’ll be afforded in the next few years, which is part of the reason they rank 27th in salary cap health from now until 2024.
Looking ahead to next year when starters such as Greg Gaines, Rob Havenstein, David Edwards, A’Shawn Robinson and Matt Gay will become free agents, the Rams will have work to do in order to free up some money. According to Over The Cap, Los Angeles is projected to be over the salary cap by $2.6 million.
Over The Cap projects the cap to be set at $225 million, a $16.8 million increase from this year. The NFL will announce an official cap number at a later date, but it’s reasonable to think there will be a significant jump thanks to the league’s new TV deals and rising revenue.
Only 10 teams are projected to have less cap space than the Rams, and just 12 teams are set to be over the cap in 2023. The Saints are in the worst shape, sitting $57.9 million over the projected salary cap.
There will be ways to create cap space, whether it’s by cutting a player like Coleman Shelton, Tyler Higbee or Terrell Burgess, or by restructuring Leonard Floyd’s contract to save $10.8 million.
As they always do, the Rams will figure it out, and being over the cap by $2.6 million isn’t nearly as bad as some other teams. And if/when they do re-sign players such as Gaines, Edwards or their other free agents, they can be creative with the structure of those contracts by making their cap hits lower in Year 1.