St. Louis Rams Release Kendall Langford

In order to open up some much needed cap space before free agency begins in two weeks, the St. Louis Rams have done what many expected and have released defensive tackle Kendall Langford.

By releasing the defensive tackle the Rams save $6-million in cap space while carrying only $1 million in dead money as the only piece left from his initial $4-million signing bonus.

For a player that was in a backup role, $6-million was too much and due to defensive rookie of the year Aaron Donald and solid starter Michael Brockers, their really wasn’t much need to pay Langford or keep him on the roster.

After Donald claimed the starting job in Week 6 against San Francisco, according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner, Langford’s snaps dipped to an average of 27.6 over the season’s final 12 games after he played 34 per game in the first four contests.With less playing time, Langford’s production dropped to 25 tackles and one sack in 2014.

According to Wagoner, the Rams have left the door open for Langford to come back to St. Louis in a back-up role, however, given Langford’s versatility to play in both a 4-3 and a 3-4 defense, and still at only 28-years of age, it shouldn’t be hard for the defensive tackle to find a starting job in free agency.

As mentioned earlier this is one of many expected moves by the Rams before the beginning of free agency, other names to keep an eye on will be center Scott Wells, left tackle Jake Long, and even quarterback Sam Bradford.

The Rams have the ability to make a splash in free agency if they wish, however, they will need to open up the cap space in order to do so. With the release of Langford, the Rams have around $9- million to spend, however, cutting Wells and Long would open up another $8-million and give the Rams $17.75-million to spend in free agency.