Two pleasant surprises on the defensive side of the ball for the Rams this season have been Dante Fowler Jr. and Cory Littleton. On a one-year contract, Fowler has produced 11 sacks, 16 tackles for loss and 16 quarterback hits, showing that betting on himself was a good gamble to make.
Littleton, by the same token, is in the final year of his contract and having a stellar season. Though he wasn’t named to the Pro Bowl, he’s been one of the best linebackers in all of football this season.
Both of their campaigns are great to see, but it also could be bad news for the Rams. Because of the contracts Fowler and Littleton are going to command, the Rams may not be able to afford both of them.
With the salary cap expected to be between $196.8 million and $201.2 million in 2020, the Rams are projected to have around $23-27 million in cap room next year. In addition to Fowler and Littleton, three other starters are slated to become free agents: Andrew Whitworth, Austin Blythe and Michael Brockers.
The Rams would probably like to bring back all three, but doing so and retaining Fowler and Littleton will be near-impossible.
Based on the fact that Za’Darius Smith got a contract worth $16.5 million per year from the Packers last year, it’s easy to imagine a scenario where Fowler gets nearly that much in free agency next year – if not more. Smith had 8.5 sacks in 2018 before becoming a free agent, and Fowler has 11 through 15 games.
Dee Ford got $17 million per year deal from the 49ers after being traded by Kansas City, while Danielle Hunter is making $14.4 million per year on the deal he signed in June of 2018.
In other words, expect Fowler to seek a contract in the range of $15-17 million per year. The Rams can structure his contract to lessen the cap hit in 2020 when they’re thin on space, but that also pushes more money to the back of the contract when players such as Aaron Donald, Todd Gurley and Jared Goff will have big cap hits, too.
As for Cory Littleton, his comparison is fairly easy. The Panthers basically set Littleton’s floor earlier this month when they signed Shaq Thompson to a four-year, $54.16 million deal – an average salary of $13.54 million.
The Cowboys gave Jaylon Smith $12.75 million per year this offseason, as well, which is a good comp for Littleton. Myles Jack’s contract with the Jaguars is paying him $14.25 million per year, while Deion Jones is making the same amount with the Falcons.
None of those players are significantly better than Littleton, if at all. Jones is the only one of them that has even made the Pro Bowl. Littleton is 26 years old, so he still has plenty of prime years ahead of him at inside linebacker.
He’ll almost certainly get at least $13 million per year with his next contract, which again, might be more than the Rams are willing to spend.
If you combine his projected salary of $13 million with Fowler’s potential of making $15 million, that’s a big chunk of change the Rams would have to shell out to keep both. Again, contract structure doesn’t mean they’re going to get that much in Year 1, but both deals would put Littleton and Fowler among the highest-paid players at their positions.
The same is already true of Aaron Donald, Jared Goff, Todd Gurley and Brandin Cooks – and Jalen Ramsey is going to break the bank in the near future, too.
So when it’s all said and done, the Rams will probably have to choose between Fowler and Littleton. Keeping both is going to be extremely difficult unless major changes are made to the Rams’ salary cap – which seems unlikely, given the way this team is set up.
Be prepared to see at least one of the two in another uniform next season, if not both.
