3 challenges LA Rams must address this offseason

RAMification II: Rams will need to be savvy in strategizing their salary cap this off-season

I won’t profess to hold expert knowledge of how to strategize an NFL salary cap. Nor will I attempt to detail out the nuances of NFL “cap-ology”. For each contract limiting the team as excessive or placing the payroll over the salary cap limit, there are a myriad of ways to reshuffle the cap hits to stretch out the payroll impacts over multiple years and restore a team’s salary outlays to the safe harbor below the ceiling.

But for each “cap magic”, an NFL team must pay somehow. To lessen this year’s burden, a team must extend that hit into the future.  To fit everyone under the NFL salary cap ceiling, the team must construct of roster of highly paid stars plus undervalued contributors.

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Right now, the Rams are loaded with stars. Stars are great in terms of selling tickets and official NFL merchandise. But when it comes to the NFL salary cap? Those stars simply place too much salary cap in too few hands to build a competitive team for post-season play.

Right now, the players queued up for their big NFL payday contract include cornerback Jalen Ramsey, linebacker Cory Littleton, and defensive end Dante Fowler Jr.. In early January 2020, Over The Cap projects the Rams salary cap space at a mere $25.5 Million.  That seems like a large some of money, until you start adding up the contracts of players unsigned in 2020 to date. Add in offensive line starter Andrew Whitworth, and the cap becomes… problematic.

Of course the Rams will do their magic and free up enough money to fit everyone under the cap. But doing so will cost the team opportunities. And to do so effectively with limited 2020 draft picks, the Rams must focus their draft upon impact players for their greatest area of need: the offensive line.