LA Rams free agency shopping list a simple restructure away

The LA Rams want to re-sign Whitworth, Fowler, and Littleton from free agency. While that is more than the Rams have in available cap space, 1 restructure frees up enough to pay for nearly all.

Are the LA Rams looking at the free agency through champagne lenses in frames of beer? To hear the team talk, that could be one way you hear their free agency market aspirations.  The Rams need to find money rather quickly, as the team will not perform well in bidding wars with other NFL teams for the chance to re-sign their star players.

The LA Rams have named left tackle Andrew Whitworth, outside linebacker Dante Fowler Jr., and inside linebacker Cory Littleton as their priorities in the upcoming NFL Free Agent market.  All three are vital to the LA Rams’ success in 2020, as they are all veterans who are performing at very high levels.  With new coordinators, much of their ability to succeed right out of the blocks will be depending upon the veteran leadership to help smooth out the transition.

The success of new offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell is having a dependable blind side offensive tackle.  The success of new defensive coordinator Brandon Staley is having a fierce pass rush, as well as excellent pass coverage in the interior of the football field.  The only flaw in that planning?  Other NFL Teams are seeking the very same thing. And some teams have more than triple the budget to spend as the Rams this off-season.

In one of our first salary cap discussions in 2020, we estimated the fair market value of the Rams’ imminent free agents.  For Dante Fowler Jr., the Rams have the franchise tag option which would guarantee Fowler is paid $16.3 million in 2020, a good bargain as an edge pass rusher.  We originally estimated Littleton at $12.5 million. But as the post-2019 grades arrived, Littleton’s reputation rose quickly.  Added to that,  the retirement of Caroline Panther linebacker Luke Kuechly shrinks the supply of linebackers while adding one more team to the market of interest buyers. All in all, Littleton will likely set the market at $15 million this off-season.  Left tackle Andrew Whitworth should be in the range of a two-year $15 million deal.  That’s about $38 million in outlays for 2020.  Right now, the LA Rams have just $23 million available.