Tag: rams salary cap

Predicting what Jalen Ramsey’s next contract could look like

If the Rams sign Jalen Ramsey to an extension this year, it’s going to reset the cornerback market.

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After a few years of being aggressive and making high-profile additions, the Los Angeles Rams took a step back this offseason and played it more conservatively by shedding bloated contracts instead of bringing more in.

It was all in an effort to balance the salary cap out ahead of the 2021 offseason, which comes with even more important decisions than the ones they had to make this year. Jalen Ramsey headlines a free agency class that also includes Cooper Kupp, John Johnson, Gerald Everett, Troy Hill, Austin Blythe and Leonard Floyd.

Ramsey is set to make $13.7 million in 2020 on the fifth-year option and has already said he won’t hold out if he doesn’t get an extension this offseason. That doesn’t mean the Rams should put off signing him for another year, though.

He’s made his stance on the matter very clear and says the Rams know where he stands. Sean McVay said “there’s a lot of dialogue” between the team and Ramsey’s agent regarding a new contract, but the two sides haven’t come to an agreement yet.

After giving up two first-round picks and another fourth-rounder, the Rams would be foolish to let Ramsey leave after just a season and a half – which makes signing him to an extension all the more likely. But what might that contract look like? One thing’s for sure: It’ll reset the cornerback market and make him the highest-paid player ever at the position.

Here’s a look at the current cornerback market in terms of the highest salary, signing bonus and guaranteed at signing.

Highest-paid per year: Darius Slay, $16.68 million per year
Largest signing bonus: Denzel Ward, $19.29 million
Most guaranteed at signing: Byron Jones, $46 million

Assuming Ramsey wants to eclipse all of those numbers, his contract is going to be a hefty one for the Rams. Here’s a simple projection of what his extension with the Rams could look like.

  • 5 years, $90 million ($18 million per year)
  • $20 million signing bonus
  • $50 million guaranteed at signing

It’s unclear how long of a contract Ramsey wants, but five years would make sense for the Rams. It would fall right between the six-year deal Aaron Donald got and the four-year extension given to Jared Goff.

In this scenario, we’re assuming the contract gets done before the season starts. That way, it could replace his current contract and allow the Rams to lower his 2020 cap hit from $13.7 to something more manageable.

So in essence, it would be an additional four years on top of this coming season, keeping him under contract until he’s 30 years old through the 2024 season.

Now let’s get to the nuts and bolts of the deal.

The annual value of Ramsey’s contract will be somewhat difficult to project. He’ll certainly go above Darius Slay’s $16.7 million per year, being three years younger. But how much higher will the Rams go? Could Ramsey be the first $20 million-per-year cornerback? It’s possible, but probably only if he takes a shorter-term deal in the range of three or four years. At five years, it’s more likely to be around $18-19 million per year.

Because signing bonuses are prorated across the life of the contract, the Rams would be smart to make it a five-year deal rather than a three- or four-year extension, allowing them to spread the money out over a longer period of time. The $20 million signing bonus would be the most of any active cornerback – slightly above Denzel Ward’s $19.3 million – and tied with Earl Thomas among all defensive backs.

It would be $1 million less than Todd Gurley got from the Rams, and also less than Donald’s ($40 million) and Goff’s ($25 million). Ramsey’s camp might aim to go above Gurley’s signing bonus, but he won’t top Goff’s or Donald’s.

The $50 million guaranteed at signing would also top all cornerbacks, going above Byron Jones’ $46 million – which is $15 million more than any other cornerback. For comparison, Goff got $57 million guaranteed at signing, while Donald got $50 million, Gurley got $21.9 million and Brandin Cooks got $20.5 million.

The $50 million would include his $20 million signing bonus, leaving $30 million left as guaranteed salary – which the Rams could decide to spread out over Years 2-4 instead of front-loading it in 2020 when their cap space is limited. In order to lower his cap hit in 2020, the Rams could drop his base salary to about $5 million and tack on $4 million from his prorated signing bonus, putting his cap hit at $9 million next season instead of $13.7 million.

The Ravens did something similar with Earl Thomas last year, giving him a base salary of $2 million in 2019 with his prorated signing bonus adding on $5 million to bring his cap hit to $7 million. His salary spikes to $10 million in 2020 with a cap hit of $15 million, which increases by $1 million in each of the next two years.

This deal for Ramsey would obviously give the Rams three huge contracts to manage for the next five years, including Donald and Goff, both of whom are signed through 2024. However, the Rams knew when they acquired Ramsey that he would require a new contract, and the moves they made to dump Gurley and Cooks free up money in the next few years.

At $18 million per year, it’s manageable for Los Angeles. Combined, Gurley and Cooks were earning more than $30 million per year in base salary. Yes, it would reset the cornerback market, but the Rams knew that’s been Ramsey’s goal dating back to last year.

Los Angeles typically hands out extensions between July and September, so it’s possible nothing will happen on the Ramsey front until this summer. But needless to say, this is a situation worth monitoring throughout the offseason.

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Cooper Kupp not worried about lack of contract talks with Rams

Contract talks with Rams haven’t started yet, but Cooper Kupp isn’t worried.

Cooper Kupp’s value to the Rams increased after the team traded away Brandin Cooks, who was signed through the 2023 season before he was shipped off to Houston. The Rams’ willingness to trade Cooks and eat $21.8 million in dead money would seem to be a sign of their commitment to both Kupp and Robert Woods.

But while Woods is under contract through the 2021 season, Kupp’s deal will expire after the upcoming season. And despite that fact, contract talks haven’t begun between his agent and the team.

Kupp revealed that bit of news on a conference call with reporters Thursday, but he isn’t worried about the lack of negotiations.

Kupp said “it’s really not a priority at this time,” but that doesn’t mean it’s unimportant to him. Rather, he understands the current state of the world and knows there are bigger things going on than contract negotiations.

Although the Rams don’t seem to be in a hurry to extend Kupp, they would appear committed to the 26-year-old wide receiver. Last month, COO Kevin Demoff said the team is trying to leave room for Kupp, Jalen Ramsey and John Johnson, all of whom will be free agents in 2021.

“[We’re] making sure long-term that the Cooper Kupps, the John Johnsons, the Jalen Ramseys are all part of our future and that we leave room available for that as the salary cap emerges,” he said.

In three NFL seasons, Kupp has 196 receptions, 2,596 yards and 21 touchdowns despite missing nine games – including half of the 2018 season with a torn ACL. Last season was his best as a pro, catching a career-high 94 passes for 1,161 yards and 10 touchdowns. If not for a relatively quiet second half of the season, his numbers could’ve been much better; he had 58 catches for 792 yards in the first eight games.

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Jared Goff on restructuring his contract: ‘I’m all for it’

Jared Goff would be open to restructuring his contract to help the Rams’ cap situation.

After a flurry of offseason moves that included trading Brandin Cooks, re-signing Andrew Whitworth and adding A’Shawn Robinson in free agency, the Los Angeles Rams have put themselves in a difficult situation financially. According to Over the Cap, the Rams are actually over the limit by $5.35 million, which means they’ll need to create some space one way or another.

The best option is to simply restructure Jared Goff’s contract, which would create the necessary cap room for the Rams. With an NFL-high cap hit of $36 million, the Rams have the chance to move money around and reduce that figure.

If the team were to go in that direction, Goff would have no complaints. He said on a conference call Wednesday that he’s open to restructuring his deal if it helps the Rams.

By restructuring, Goff wouldn’t be taking a pay cut. In fact, he’d get more money up front, likely in the form of a signing bonus. The Rams would then be able to spread that money out over the rest of his contract to lessen the blow in 2020.

Goff doesn’t have any say in the matter because there’s a clause written in his contract to allow the Rams to do this, so even if he was against the move, the Rams could do it anyway. But having him (and his mustache) on board is a plus.

It’s now up to the Rams to decide whether they want to restructure his deal, free up space this offseason and push money down the line in later years. GM Les Snead indicated last month that restructuring isn’t always a wise proposition, but that was before the Rams found themselves in their current cap predicament.

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Rams had to admit their mistakes to clear the books for 2021 free agents

The Rams’ decision to move on from Cooks and Gurley will pay off in the long run with a big free agent class coming up.

Sometimes, you just have to admit you were wrong. The Los Angeles Rams did that this offseason – not once, but twice. Less than two years after signing Brandin Cooks and Todd Gurley to lucrative extensions, the Rams moved on from both players.

First, they cut Gurley last month and took on $20.15 million in dead money spread across the next two seasons. Then this week, they traded Cooks to the Texans for a second-round pick, shedding his massive contract from their salary cap.

To use an example from Les Snead’s book of metaphors, if you look at these moves through a microscope instead of a telescope, they look terrible. With Gurley having a dead cap charge of more than $12 million in 2020, the Rams will pay $33.55 million for him and Cooks to be off the roster. That’s larger than any player’s cap hit in the NFL next season except for Jared Goff.

Furthermore, Cooks’ dead cap charge of $21.8 million will be the biggest ever for a single player. Gurley’s dead cap hit of $20.15 million was the second-most ever before the Cooks trade.

Nothing about those two tweets reflects well on the Rams and their front office. However, Snead often talks about looking at things through a telescope, too, with a wide view of the future.

By trading Cooks and cutting Gurley, the Rams clearly admitted the mistakes they made by signing them to extensions a year prematurely. They could’ve allowed Gurley to play out his rookie deal through 2019, which would’ve been far more cost-prohibitive than the approach they took. The same could be said about Cooks, allowing him to finish his first contract with the fifth-year option in 2018 and then tagged him in 2019.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but the Rams felt confident in both players and that backfired in a big way. But by admitting their mistakes, they’ve cleared the books in 2021 – an offseason that might be more important than the current one.

Next offseason, Jalen Ramsey, Cooper Kupp, John Johnson, Gerald Everett, Leonard Floyd, Troy Hill, Josh Reynolds and Samson Ebukam will all be free agents. As of now, the Rams have $156 million in cap liabilities next year. If the salary cap rises to $215 million as Over the Cap is projecting, Los Angeles will have more than $58 million in cap space.

That’s not nearly as much as the Colts ($130 million) or Chargers ($128 million), but it’d be enough to sign at least three or four of the aforementioned players. Snead has already said multiple times that Ramsey, Kupp and Johnson are all part of the team’s future plans, as they should be.

Gurley will have a dead cap charge of $8.4 million next year and Cooks’ has yet to be determined, but if it’s a post-June 1 designation, he’ll count another $13 million in 2021. Regardless, it’s less than both players’ cap hits were supposed to be in L.A. next year. Gurley was set to count $13.2 million in 2021 ($4.8 million savings) and Cooks’ cap hit was going to be $16.8 million ($3.8 million savings, potentially).

But moving on from both players, the Rams freed up cap space in 2021 in advance of the expected extensions for Ramsey, Kupp and Johnson. It wasn’t cost-effective for the upcoming season, but it will pay off in the long run.

Rams get passing grade from analysts for Brandin Cooks trade

Analysts from ESPN, The Athletic and others view this as a decent deal for the Rams.

The Rams and Texans struck a deal on Thursday night with Los Angeles sending Brandin Cooks and a 2022 fourth-round pick to Houston for a 2020 second-round pick. This wasn’t necessarily a financial move for the Rams, considering Brandin Cooks’ dead cap hit is $5 million more than it would’ve cost the team to keep him, but it did net them the No. 57 overall pick in a wide receiver-rich draft class.

As badly as this trade will hurt the Rams’ salary cap, it wasn’t necessarily a bad move to get out from under a bloated contract for a player with a history of concussions. Cooks was also coming off arguably the worst season of his career, so his stock was on the decline.

Still, it’s not a deal that greatly benefits the Rams in 2020.

Analysts across the media landscape don’t view it as a terrible decision by the Rams, giving them passing grades for the trade with Houston. Here’s a roundup of the marks Los Angeles got from ESPN, CBS Sports, Sporting News and The Athletic.

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell: B

… Given the Rams’ current situation, it’s easy to see how trading Cooks makes sense. Los Angeles was in a desperate cap situation and down its first-round picks in 2020 and 2021 after the Jalen Ramsey trade. Jared Goff‘s passer rating and QBR both declined without Cooks on the field. But as the team tried to find a Plan B for the 6-1 defensive front it saw early in the season and changed its running game, it began to seem like the Rams might operate best out of 12 personnel, which would put Tyler Higbee and Gerald Everett on the field and force the Rams to leave one of Cooks, Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods on the sidelines.

CBS Sports’ Jeff Kerr: C+

Kudos to the Rams for finding someone to take on Cooks’ contract, but the front office continues to mismanage their cap situation and could have made this deal weeks ago. The Rams failed to trade Cooks before March 15, giving him a $4 million roster bonus in his contract. Then they didn’t trade him before March 20, which fully guaranteed his 2020 salary of $8 million.

Sporting News’ Austin Anderson: B-

The Rams do benefit by now having four picks in the first three rounds of the 2020 draft; there, they can add young players on affordable four-year contracts. In addition, the team still has two good receivers in Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, who is going into the last year of his rookie deal. Josh Reynolds stepped in well when Cooks and others went down with injuries last year; he’ll be a solid replacement as the third receiver. 

The Athletic’s Sheil Kapadia: C

If we look at this deal in isolation, given the circumstances, they at least got a nice return for Cooks. But we have to account for the big picture. The Rams are taking a cap hit of $21.8 million for a player who is not even going to be on their roster.

They’re digging their way out of a massive hole by acquiring draft capital and creating cap space for 2021, but the Rams were the ones who created the problem in the first place. They do not deserve any gold stars here.

Les Snead and the Rams front office as a whole have made a mess of their salary cap situation, and this is just the latest example of that. Their deals with Todd Gurley and Cooks in 2018 were costly and they’re now feeling the impact of those contracts only two years later.

But, they’ll have a chance to replace each player at a much lower cost either in the draft or with a player already on their roster.

Trading Brandin Cooks doesn’t actually save the Rams any money

It cost the Rams $5 million more to trade Brandin Cooks than it would have to keep him.

When the Rams cut Todd Gurley, they did so before $10.5 million of his contract became fully guaranteed. One day later, they owed Brandin Cooks a $4 million roster bonus. Rather than trading Cooks before that deadline and saving that money, they opted to hold onto him and trade him less than a month later.

On Thursday, they sent Cooks to the Texans, ridding themselves of his massive contract – a contract the Rams gave him in 2018. By trading him away, though, the Rams don’t actually save any money like they did when they cut Gurley.

Quite the opposite, actually. Had they traded Cooks before his bonus was owed, they would’ve taken on $17.8 million in dead money. Since they waited, that dead cap charge jumped to $21.8 million – $5 million more than it would have cost them to just keep Cooks on the roster.

If the trade is designated as a post-June 1 transaction, it will allow the Rams to split the dead cap charge over the next two years, but regardless, they’re still eating $21.8 million for Cooks to not play for them.

The Rams quickly gave Cooks an $81 million extension after acquiring him from the Patriots in 2018, locking him up before he could play out the final year of his rookie contract. It didn’t seem like a terrible decision at the time, and even after Cooks’ first year with the Rams, it didn’t look bad.

But in hindsight, the Rams got very little out of Cooks for what they paid. He got $40.4 million from Los Angeles for just two seasons and 1,787 yards – 1,204 of which came in 2018 alone.

To say this contract was a mistake would be a massive understatement.

Michael Brockers’ contract with Rams is team-friendly in 2020

Michael Brockers’ cap hit in 2020 will be just $3.83 million.

The Los Angeles Rams came into this offseason with limited cap space and five key starters hitting free agency. Somehow, they managed to re-sign three of those players, keeping Andrew Whitworth, Austin Blythe and Michael Brockers in horns.

Brockers was a late addition after his deal with the Ravens fell through, re-signing with the Rams after the team had already brought in A’Shawn Robinson as his potential replacement. It seemed impossible for the Rams to fit Brockers under the cap, but they managed to do so with some creative structuring of his contract.

According to Over the Cap, Brockers’ deal is for three years and worth $24 million. Only $14 million of it is guaranteed, which includes a $4 million signing bonus. His cap hit in 2020 is just $3.83 million, which explains how they were able to fit his contract under the cap despite having very limited room.

Here’s a breakdown of his deal and the cap hit in each season. It jumps to $9.83 million in 2021 with a dead cap charge of $5.17 million if he’s cut, so the Rams could get out of the deal after the upcoming season if they want and still save some money.

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Brockers has been a leader in the locker room and someone younger players look up to, and he’s showing even more evidence of himself being a team player with this deal. With a base salary of just $2 million in 2020, he’s helping the Rams by taking less money in Year 1.

If Brockers sticks around through the 2022 season, though, he’ll make more than $10 million in the final year of his contract, which is a nice reward.

With Brockers’ deal now on the books, the Rams are left with just $325,835 in salary cap space. That doesn’t include Leonard Floyd’s contract, either, which is worth $10 million for one year – though the structure hasn’t been revealed.

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Rams trying to leave cap room to re-sign Kupp, Johnson and Ramsey

Kevin Demoff mentioned the importance of those three players moving forward.

For as much was made about the Los Angeles Rams’ class of free agents this offseason, next year’s group is even more critical to the future of the franchise. Cooper Kupp, John Johnson, Jalen Ramsey, Gerald Everett, Troy Hill and Samson Ebukam will all become free agents next year if they don’t sign extensions ahead of time, and all of them are expected to contribute in significant ways in 2020.

The Rams know they can’t keep everyone, so they’ll have to pick and choose which players they re-sign and keep around for the long haul. On that list, Ramsey, Kupp and Johnson would seem to be the top priorities, and that’s the feeling shared by COO Kevin Demoff, too.

On ESPN 710 LA recently, Demoff picked out those three players as the ones Los Angeles wants to ensure it can keep around. The team is saving room to re-sign them, be it this offseason or next year.

“[We’re] making sure long-term that the Cooper Kupps, the John Johnsons, the Jalen Ramseys are all part of our future and that we leave room available for that as the salary cap emerges,” Demoff said. “A lot of moving parts, and we all know one of the crazy things about the NFL offseason is you finish the first week of free agency and everybody says, ‘Well, what’s the starting lineup look like?’ without the draft, without trades, without everything that’s going to happen for the next six months.”

There’s talk among fans and analysts that the Rams’ Super Bowl window has closed, but they still have a strong core of players to lean on for years to come. Aaron Donald isn’t going anywhere, nor is Jared Goff, Robert Woods or Tyler Higbee.

Demoff is confident that Sean McVay and Les Snead can construct a roster that will contend for the foreseeable future, most importantly in 2020.

“With Sean and Les, we’ve been among the league leaders in wins and points, Super Bowl trip, two division titles, and we’ve got great confidence in them to find the right combination of players and to make sure when we open SoFi Stadium, we do it with a team that’s absolutely going to compete for a division title, a conference title and a world championship,” he said.

The contracts the Rams have handed out this season have either been one-year deals or function as such. The Rams can easily get out of A’Shawn Robinson’s two-year pact after one season, given considering only $9.5 million is guaranteed. Austin Blythe and Leonard Floyd both signed one-year deals, too, while Whitworth’s deal will likely allow the Rams to move on after 2020 if they choose. This frees up money next offseason, allowing them to re-sign those key players Demoff mentioned.

It’s just a matter of finding a common ground with those players to make a deal work.

Rams have few options left to free up cap space in 2020

The Rams don’t have many options left when it comes to freeing up cap space.

Few teams have been as inactive on the free-agent market this season as the Los Angeles Rams. That’s no surprise, either. They came into the offseason with limited cap space, bloated contracts and Jalen Ramsey still to pay.

They cut Todd Gurley and Clay Matthews, and declined Nickell Robey-Coleman’s 2020 option, all to free up some much-needed money. While those moves helped a bit, the Rams have very few options left when it comes to creating cap space.

According to Over The Cap, they only have $6.9 million in salary cap space left, and that doesn’t include the deals for Austin Blythe or Leonard Floyd. It also doesn’t account for the $5.5 million savings that will come on June 2. That’s still not much money, considering the Rams need a kicker, have to sign their draft class and lack depth at positions like linebacker and along the defensive line.

Here are the team’s most logical options when it comes to creating more cap space this offseason.

Restructure Jared Goff’s contract

Potential savings: $7.4 million

Restructuring Goff’s deal would have saved the Rams $16.8 million, had it been done before his $21 million roster bonus for 2020 was paid on March 19. As a result, restructuring how would only save the Rams about $7.4 million, according to Spotrac.

That’s not a significant amount, but it would more than double the Rams’ current pool of spending money. The issue is that it would push more guaranteed money into future years, making it more difficult for the Rams to move on from Goff if they choose to before his contract expires.

Restructure Aaron Donald’s contract

Potential savings: $12.9 million

Donald isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, which makes him a candidate to have his contract restructured. Yes, it would push money deeper into his deal, but there’s no reason to believe the Rams are planning to cut him before his contract expires.

There hasn’t been much talk about restructuring Donald’s deal, but it would make sense from a financial standpoint, given his standing with the team.

Trade Gerald Everett

Potential savings: $1.3 million

The Rams seem committed to Tyler Higbee as their primary tight end, which could make Everett a trade chip. The Patriots have a clear need at tight end and have yet to replace Rob Gronkowski, so they would seem like a logical fit – especially after the two teams previously worked out the Brandin Cooks trade.

Trading Everett wouldn’t net the Rams much in return, though, and freeing up $1.3 million in cap space isn’t worth losing a promising young player. The Rams would be better off keeping Everett unless they can get a second- or third-round pick back.

Cut Malcolm Brown

Potential savings: $1.1 million

Brown is currently slotted in as the No. 2 running back behind Darrell Henderson; at least in the eyes of fans. The Rams might view him as their starter now that Todd Gurley is gone. Cutting him would save $1.1 million in cap space this year, but simultaneously leave the Rams barren at running back.

Until they find a viable replacement in the draft or in free agency, they should hold onto Brown. But don’t completely rule out the possibility of him being cut at some point this offseason.

Trade Rob Havenstein

Potential savings: $5.4 million

Havenstein’s contract looked like a bargain before he struggled mightily in 2019. Now, it’s a legitimate question as to whether he can earn a starting job over Bobby Evans and David Edwards next season. If the Rams don’t feel like he’s worth the money, they can trade him to save more than $5 million.

It all comes down to how Havenstein performs this offseason and whether he’s a noticeably better option than Evans and Edwards.

A’Shawn Robinson’s contract with Rams includes $9.5M guaranteed

A’Shawn Robinson’s contract with the Rams is essentially a one-year deal.

The Los Angeles Rams have only signed two outside free agents thus far, mostly focusing on shedding cap and watching from the sidelines during the initial wave of signings. They did bring in A’Shawn Robinson shortly after losing Michael Brockers, signing him to essentially take over as the starting defensive end – though he could also play some nose tackle.

His deal was initially reported as a two-year pact worth $17 million, but the details weren’t revealed. Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle has the actual numbers now, and it’s essentially a one-year deal for Robinson.

The deal comes with $9.5 million guaranteed in the form of a $5.5 million salary in 2020, a $3 million signing bonus and $1 million guaranteed on the third day of the 2021 league year.

Robinson also has incentives in his contract, including $500,000 in per-game active roster bonuses and $1 million pertaining to the team making the playoffs.

Robinson isn’t going to bring much as a pass rusher for the Rams, but he is a stout run defender thanks to his size and length. He and Sebastian Joseph-Day have the versatility to play either nose tackle or defensive end, so we’ll likely see both players lining up at each spot next season.

As promising as Robinson is as a player, considering he’s only 25, he’s been inconsistent and really fell out of favor on the defensive line after Matt Patricia arrived. The Rams have to hope a change of scenery will bring out the best in him moving forward.

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