With all the superstars the Rams collected over the last few years, many have assumed they’re in terrible position salary cap-wise this offseason. They are $21.6 million over the salary cap as of now, according to Over the Cap, but that doesn’t tell the full story.
The Rams have a clear path to getting under the cap before the new league year begins on March 16, which is also the official start of free agency. Three simple moves can not only get the Rams under the $208.2 million limit, but also give them some wiggle room.
All of those moves are restructures, tweaking the contracts of three top players: Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey and Cooper Kupp. They can also restructure Matthew Stafford’s contract, Leonard Floyd’s deal and Robert Woods’, as well, each of which would save the Rams $9 million-plus against the cap in 2022.
But rather than redoing those deals, I opted to highlight those of Donald, Ramsey and Kupp because I’d rather extend Stafford, and I don’t necessarily want to push money out further on Floyd’s and Woods’ deal.
Not that they’ll probably want to, but the Rams can get out of Floyd’s and Woods’ contracts in 2023 with the way they’re laid out right now, and if the Rams restructure their deals, that will lock in both players for the next several years. Again, not that that’s a bad thing.
But let’s get to the three restructures that make the most sense.