How will proposed NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement impact LA Rams?

As the LA Rams wait for players to ratify the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, let’s review how the new CBA impacts the LA Rams

The LA Rams, along with 31 other NFL teams, await the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) members to vote whether to ratify or reject the proposed NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement which has been ratified by the NFL Owners. You have no doubt seen some news about the new CBA, but I’m not certain anyone has truly broken it down for you in terms of impact for the LA Rams.

While I’m no lawyer, and the agreement is still in flux, I will try to wade through some of the significant terms for the LA Rams, and how those sections might impact the team going forward. Most of the terms I will address have been relayed via Adam Schefter’s social media Twitter account.

While the approval process was chugging along on schedule, including ratification by the NFL owners on Thursday, February 20, 2020.  The biggest sticking point in the agreement is the proposal to expand the NFL season from 16 games to a 17 game season. Right now, settling that issue could be an involved and prolonged process. Also, the pending CBA impacts a great deal of NFL teams in terms of personnel decisions. So many decisions will be made according to the new CBA that NFL teams have literally halted roster moves while teams await ratification.

As soon as there is clear direction as to which CBA will govern the 2020 NFL season, teams will act fast on roster issues.

ESPN summary of ratifying a new NFL CBA

ESPN’s Dan Graziano has a fairly succinct yet easy-to-read synapse of the CBA negotiation process to date, and what lies ahead for its approval by both sides. His article gives a historically accurate recap of what has happened to this point in time, and what will likely happen in the near term future.

For now, the most impactful event to the LA Rams is the NFLPA vote.  To ratify the agreement, the Players’ Association must vote in the majority to accept the new terms.  If that happens, the CBA is ratified and the players and teams will begin to prepare for the 17 game season in 2021.

If the new CBA is rejected, the 2020 season will simply default to the current existing CBA. That will allow teams to use two designations for their free agents this year. It will also not raise the 2020 NFL salary cap by much, so teams squirming to find free money to spend in this year’s free-agency market will be at a disadvantage.

Roster limits and season format changes

Once ratified, NFL rosters would increase under the terms of the new CBA.  Overall rosters would increase from 53 to 55. Gameday rosters would increase from 46 to 48. Practice squad rosters, currently capped at 10 players, would increase to 12 in 2020. In 2022, the practice squad roster would increase again to 14. Finally, teams would be able to bring back up to three players off the injured reserve roster in a season.

The new NFL schedule would increase to include 17 games.  The new game would likely be played at a neutral site.  That would remove the “home field” penalty to a team scheduled to play in London or Mexico City.

The NFL playoff format would change as well.  In the new CBA, only the top-performing team would qualify for the bye week. The other three conference champions would play in the first week of the playoffs against a wild-card team.  The playoffs would be Team 7 at Team 2, Team 6 at Team 3, and Team 5 at Team 4. The following week Team 1 hosts the lowest ranking team to advance, while the highest remaining ranked team hosts the other game.  In this new format, the 9-7 LA Rams would have advanced into the NFL Playoffs to face the Green Bay Packers in Green Bay.

Preseason games would decrease to three games. Joint practices would be decreased to 4 sessions.

Compensation and benefits

The new CBA would add $100 million to the NFL Salary Cap in 2020. That’s an additional $3,125,000 per team on top of the 47% revenue share. In 2021, the players share of the revenue is increased to 48%. If the season expands to 17 games, that revenue share is increased to 48.5%.

All rookie minimum salary scales increased by $100k in 2020, $50K in 2021, then $45K each following year.  Minimum player salaries increased by $90k in 2020, from $80-105k in 2021, and then $45K each of the following years.

Minimum Team spending increased to 90%.

Restricted free-agent tender offers increased by $100K for an original round offer, $250K for first or second-round tender offer

Summary of New CBA

The LA Rams rush to sign skill players to lucrative long-term contracts in 2018 and 2019 was in anticipation of the new and more lucrative CBA under negotiation through 2020. If the new contract is ratified, the contracts for Jared Goff, Todd Gurley, Brandin Cooks, and Aaron Donald will quickly fall to the middle of the NFL pack. While that may not help the LA Rams immediately, the salary cap advantages currently held by other NFL teams would quickly evaporate.

The rapid rise in minimum salaries would sting the LA Rams somewhat. The number of players earning a league minimum would practically eat away at the majority of the $3.125 million increase to the 2020 salary cap.

The increase in revenue share would be a benefit to the LA Rams, but it had already been factored into the recent contract extensions by the Rams.  All in all, the new CBA is a rather benign event to the LA Rams and fans.  If the agreement fails to pass the players association, negotiations would likely be rescheduled.

The rush to ratify for the NFL is to add more games to the season, which triggers an opportunity to negotiate more revenue from upcoming television broadcast deals. Both the owners and players share that revenue, so both sides have ample incentive to make it happen sooner rather than later.