The NFL announced on Wednesday that the salary cap for 2021 will be $182.5 million, a $15.7 million decrease from last year’s limit. With the number now set, the Rams finally know how far they have to go to get under the cap by March 17.
Put simply, they have a lot of work to do in the next week, sitting $33 million over the cap at the moment. The Rams haven’t cut anyone yet to clear cap space, nor have they begun restructuring any contracts.
In an ideal world, they’d like to get under the cap without releasing anyone. Les Snead said Wednesday that the team has been working through the restructuring process for the last two or three weeks, and that’s the top priority right now.
“That would be priority No. 1. That’s the process that’s occurring now,” Snead said. “Our vision is to get there without having to (cut players), and if we have to do that, player/agent definitely knows that there’s a timeline and there is a deadline and we have to be under the cap. So if we can’t work something out before then, that’s a possibility. Definitely didn’t want to surprise anyone. This has been an ongoing process for the last two or three weeks, trying to work with everyone to come up with win-win solutions for player and club at this point in time.”
Snead didn’t name names when discussing potential restructure candidates, but Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey are obvious possibilities. According to Over The Cap, the Rams can save $14.2 million and $13.2 million by restructuring the deals of Donald and Ramsey, respectively.
Matthew Stafford, Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp are other candidates, but their savings aren’t as large as with Donald and Ramsey – nor is a restructure as safe to do with those players.
If the Rams do have to release players, which seems likely, they aren’t looking at guys on rookie contracts. Those are highly affordable and the savings that comes with cutting any of them is minimal.
So Snead pointed to the veterans with larger contracts – players who are “key figures” on the team – as guys who might have to make sacrifices to help get the team under the cap. That could mean outright pay cuts, or if they can’t come to an agreement, a possible release.
“They haven’t been with players on rookie contracts because deleting those contracts do not help a team in terms of the cap,” Snead said. “We’ve had to knock on the door of a lot of our key figures, key pillars and ask them to in some cases, make sacrifices. In some cases, adjust their contract to help us get under the cap. The vision right now is to get to the finish line without having to release players. We’re well aware that we’ve had to have a call with a subset of our unrestricted free agents and restricted free agents and let them know our intent, whether we were going to be attempting to re-sign them or assuming they’re going to have a better market than what we would be able to pay and allowing them to know their path and how they need to move forward. It’s evolving, it’s changing, it’s unprecedented.”
Snead called the extra $2.5 million in cap space from the original floor of $180 million a “drop in the bucket,” essentially saying it doesn’t matter much to the Rams. But what does help is knowing the exact amount for the salary cap this year, allowing them to have a clear roadmap of where they have to go.
They have a week to get under the cap and moves will have to be made, but the Rams are prepared to make some tough decisions if restructures don’t get them to the finish line.
“The extra $2.5 million doesn’t necessarily move the needle with us, but it is very, very helpful to know it’s not going to be $188 (million), per se,” he said. “To know now, we know what the finish line is. We’ve been running a marathon, didn’t know if we were going to run 25 miles, 24, 26 or 28. At least now we know it’s 26.2, let’s roll.”
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