The Rams got to work on their pending 2021 free agents this year by re-signing Jalen Ramsey and Cooper Kupp, both of whom were in the final year of their contracts. They couldn’t take care of all their future free agents, though.
A number of key starters will hit the market next offseason, including John Johnson, Gerald Everett and Josh Reynolds. They’re likely to be their three highest-priced free agents and it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising if they all walk – especially if the salary cap decreases due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kevin Demoff was recently on the Rams Revealed podcast with J.B. Long and admitted the team won’t be able to sign all three of those players. He does hope they can re-sign some, though.
“When you look at the team, we will have the ability each year to be able to keep some of our own guys and be proactive,” he said. “Obviously, we have a couple of free agents coming up next year when you look at the John Johnsons and the Gerald Everetts and the Josh Reynolds. We probably won’t be able to keep all of them, but hopefully we can keep some of them. Who knows what next year looks like from a salary cap perspective in the NFL, but our goal is – you have to do a couple things. You have to try to keep as many players as you can, and the ones that they go, you have to turn those compensatory picks into something of value.”
Demoff said the team expects to get compensatory picks, likely in the third or fourth round, for the departures of Dante Fowler Jr. and Cory Littleton. That helps offset the lost draft picks from the Jalen Ramsey trade, which included a first- and fourth-round pick in 2021.
Johnson is the likeliest to price himself out of the Rams’ range next year, and they prepared for that by drafting Jordan Fuller and Terrell Burgess. Reynolds can be replaced by Van Jefferson, and Brycen Hopkins was drafted to take the place of Everett when he leaves.
It’ll be hard to lose those three starters, but Los Angeles prepared for this in the draft.
