LA Rams RB Todd Gurley reportedly meeting with team to decide future

After a disappointing 2019 season, LA Rams RB Todd Gurley now reported to meet with team to decide future

The LA Rams are tidying up their financial position in preparation for the 2020 NFL season. The team projects ten veteran and productive players exiting the team to the free agent market simultaneously.  All the while, the team’s salary cap position was dwindling to approximately $15 million.  That’s not a very good starting point to build a championship team.

But ignore the starting point for a moment.  The LA Rams have not tossed in the white flag by any means. In fact, this team was oh-so-close to following up their Super Bowl appearance with another playoff run.  This team has quite a few aces up their sleeves and in their boots for the 2020 season.  In fact, we laid out a simple five step plan the LA Rams could follow to free up over $80 million of salary cap space this off-season.

Today, the LA Rams and safety Eric Weddle have checked the box to one of those steps, as veteran safety Weddle announced his retirement from football. One down, four moves to go.  Of course, one of the biggest savings to the teams salary cap is to restructure the impact of some of the highest paying contracts on the team: quarterback Jared Goff, running back Todd Gurley, wide receiver Brandin Cooks, and defensive tackle Aaron Donald.  To do so, the team will meet with the player and agent and hammer out new contract language.

Right now, Ian Rapoport is reporting the Rams will meed with running back Todd Gurley.

The Rams have contracted several skill players with league leading compensation. Unfortunately, with the exception of DT Aaron Donald, neither QB Jared Goff, WR Brandin Cooks, nor RB Todd Gurley had earned their elite NFL contract in 2019.

Uneven distribution

The LA Rams signed running back Todd Gurley to a four-year $57.5 million contract on July 25, 2018.  Per OverTheCap.com, that contract included $45 million in guarantees. Of course, there is a signing bonus, roster bonuses, and other payment clauses embedded in the contract to trigger cash from team to player.

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The Rams salary cap takes a hit from Gurley’s contract this season in the tune of $17.250 million, or over eight percent of the team’s total salary cap allotment.  To keep this in perspective, the Rams have more money tied up in a running back than they have earmarked for the entire offensive line blocking for him. That’s where the team is running into problems.

Many NFL team avoid this uneven distribution by defining how much of the annual salary cap the team can spend on a role or position of the team.  While that eliminates paying top dollar for the best in slot player, it keeps overeager NFL general managers from committing too much of the teams payroll into too few hands.

The Rams would benefit from a better distribution of the team’s salary cap dollars.  Underpaying the offensive line, the basic foundation of a good running or passing, seems very myopic to the long term success of the team.  The team is now trying to correct that unevenness.  Meeting with Gurley is one step to doing so.

So what can be done at this meeting? Well lets discuss how the team can remedy Todd Gurley’s contract going forward.

Restructure means many things

While the current contract for Gurley has a huge cap hit for the team “as is”, outright cutting Gurley would trigger all bonuses already paid out, hitting the team for an additional $8.4 million against the salary cap this season.  Should the team trade Gurley, the team would still be on the hook for $12.4 million, but would save nearly $4.7 million against the cap.

Restructuring Gurley’s contract takes all the money’s due to Gurley this year, and reclassifies them as “signing bonus”. That allows those monies to be pushed out over the life of the contract.  Let’s examine how that works. Per OverTheCap, Gurley is due a base salary of $5,500,000, a roster bonus of $7,550,000, and a prorated signing bonus of $4,200,00.  That translates to the $17.25 million cap hit.

But if the Rams restructures the contract, the team and player push $13.05 million into a four year signing bonus to be spread over the next four years.  Translated, that means Gurley’s new salary is the prorated signing bonus of $4,200,000 plus 25 percent of the new $13.05 million or just $3,262,500. That saves the team $9,787,500. in salary cap space this season.

That’s one salary. The team has multiple players in need of restructure.  So why would a player do so?  Restructuring pushes unguaranteed salaries into guaranteed bonuses. It ensures the player will be paid today’s dollars.  So it’s a win-win of sorts.  But as many have pointed out in comments, it kicks the salary can down the road for the Rams.

Team options

The Rams front office meeting with Todd Gurley is not a definitive “restructure or else” meeting. As we had indicated previously, Gurley’s durability is a huge question mark now for the team.  Not only did Gurley struggle to compete in the 2018 NFL playoffs and Super Bowl 53, but he followed up with a 2019 season with one of his poorest showings in his career.

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Some claim it’s all due to lack of touches. Others claim it was poor play from the offensive line.  But whatever the cause of a poor season, the team paid Gurley as though he would lead the NFL in virtually all offensive categories.  Meeting with the front office may simply be asking Gurley directly how to get his running game back to normal.

Still, the excuses of touches or offensive line only carry the argument so far.  So it’s time for the Rams and the running back to hash out the past, the present, and the future.  Of course, the past will focus on his knee, its status, and the likelihood of his health enduring over the course of a full 16 game season and full workload.

The present discussion will most certainly focus upon the team’s options with Gurley’s current contract. How can the team free up cap space to pay his teammates, his offensive linemen, and ensure the Rams remain competitive in 2020?

The future will likely focus on Gurley’s role with the team, or with another NFL team, depending on the discussions go. If the Rams pose a diminishing role for Gurley this year or in the future due to plans to give more touches to teammate Darrell Henderson, Gurley may demand a trade.

Trade or restructure accomplishes more cap space.  Gurley continues to have a lot of running game in him.  But the reality is that his dominance is likely a past chapter, and he must now share the load and the spotlight to continue as an LA Rams feature back.  Of course, a diminished role means a pay cut.

The first step involves the team and player meet, discuss, and then decide a course of action. The Rams need salary cap space.  Running back Todd Gurley holds part of the solution.  We’ll learn how they worked things out in the days ahead.