Rams releasing Mark Barron to free up salary cap space shouldn’t be surprising

In what shouldn’t come as a surprise, the Los Angeles Rams plan on releasing Mark Barron to free up some salary cap space.

With the start of free agency right around the corner, the Los Angeles Rams along with every other team have been facing plenty of tough decisions in regards to freeing up salary cap space to take advantage of the talent from this year’s class.

Earlier on Tuesday, the biggest story surrounding the Rams was the tough decision to move on from John Sullivan after two years with the team, but there’s no question that headline was topped by deciding it was time to move on from Mark Barron at linebacker.

When taking into consideration the need at linebacker since Dante Fowler Jr. could end up on a different team, some will question the decision by Los Angeles to part ways with Barron to keep the position in better shape.

However, when comparing the money to the production, it’s clear that Barron simply wasn’t worth the hefty price it would be to keep him around for another year, meaning no one should really be all that surprised by the Rams leaning in this direction.

As Vincent Bonsignore points out, the money saved between moving on from both Sullivan and Barron puts the team in great position heading into the new league year to help pull off a few key moves, whether it’s through free agency or simply trades.

Watching Barron combine for just 145 tackles over the previous two seasons with only two sacks is just part of the reason behind the realization by the Rams that it seems best to move on, even if the potential always seemed to be there.

At the end of the day, Los Angeles seems to be putting themselves in the best position possible to once again they have the money to bring on the necessary talent to put them in the best position possible to make another run at the Super Bowl.

No question that it seems like only a matter of time before Barron finds himself on a new team for the 2019 season, but as bad as it sounds, whoever the Rams decide to go with for a replacement, it already seems like that player will be a major upgrade for the defense.