Jalen Ramsey and the Rams finally came to terms on a contract extension Wednesday, agreeing to a five-year deal worth $105 million. It’s the largest deal ever for a defensive back, tying him to Los Angeles through 2025.
The Rams had been working on the contract with Ramsey’s agent since the trade happened last October, but clearly it wasn’t an easy deal to lay out – especially considering the team’s salary cap situation.
By getting Ramsey’s deal done, the Rams actually freed up a significant chunk of cap space in 2020. According to Mike Garafolo’s breakdown of Ramsey’s contract, his base salary this season will only be $1.2 million – down from $13.7 million.
Because he got a $25 million signing bonus, which is prorated over five years, his cap hit will drop from that $13.7 million figure to about $6.2 million ($1.2 million base salary plus $5 million per year for the bonus). That gives the Rams an additional $7.5 million in cap space this year, potentially opening the door for a Cooper Kupp extension.
Garafolo also pointed out that Ramsey has rolling guarantees, which all but ensure he’ll remain with the Rams through 2024.
Ramsey has rolling guarantees, meaning 2022 and 2023 have injury guarantees as of now that convert to full guarantees the year before. So basically this deal is pretty much locked in until 2024. https://t.co/eC2V544Dnl
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 10, 2020
Here’s the breakdown of Ramsey’s annual salary, per Garafolo. Ramsey also has a $4 million roster bonus each due in the spring of 2024 and 2025,
- 2020: $1.2 million base salary
- 2021: $17.5 million
- 2022 $15 million
- 2023: $17 million
- 2024: $14.5 million
- 2025: $15.5 million
There are no real surprises with Ramsey’s contract, but the Rams are essentially looking at a cap hit of at least $20 million in each of the next five years for their star corner.
Pair that with Jared Goff and Aaron Donald, whose contracts will have combined cap hits of at least $50 million each year through 2024, and the Rams have a good chunk of their salary cap accounted taken up for the foreseeable future.