LA Rams 2020 free agency strategy likely 2021 comp picks

The LA Rams face losing a number of free agents in 2021. The long term strategy may be to add four compensatory picks for the 2021 NFL Draft.

As the LA Rams fans scramble and cling to the hope that the team finds a way to free up 2020 salary cap dollars to re-sign key players, another strategy may be at work among the team’s personnel department. The LA Rams face losing up to 18 players who were on the 53-man roster in 2019.  That equates to a third of the team’s overall roster.

Several players stand to become very rich in the NFL Free Agency market, whether remaining with the LA Rams or playing for a new NFL team.  Players like OLB Dante Fowler Jr., ILB Cory Littleton, DE Michael Brockers are all in the $10+ million price range per season. Of course, that could go higher if the NFL Players vote to accept the new NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Even one such player returning to the LA Rams would effectively break the team’s bank of available contract dollars.  In the hopes of the team being open to signing 2020 free agents, we had compiled a plan for the team to free up salary dollars. So far, the team has not committed to restructuring contracts today and paying for those dollars in future years.

General manager Les Snead did commit to adding additional faces onto the roster in the LA Rams running game during the LA Rams weekly podcast on March 4, 2020. The podcast, in fact, was incredibly informative – both in what Snead did say and what he did not say.

Les is more … communicative

The session started out by laying out the team’s approach to the 2020 NFL Draft. Now through the end of March 2020, the scouting department will be wrapping up assessing the class of 2020 by attending the collegiate Pro Days. Each college/university holds a Pro day to afford all collegiate football players from that school to drill, test, and meet with NFL scouts and executives as a one-day version of the limited invitation NFL Scouting Combine.

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After the Pro days, Snead and the scouting department will meet with the coaching staff in April to finalize the LA Rams draft board to layout the priority of each potential NFL Draft prospect. That aligns with head coach Sean McVay’s decision to keep his new coordinators in Los Angeles and skip the 2020 NFL Combine.

Snead also discussed a belief that the Rams will not be using either a franchise or transition tag in 2020. Snead states correctly that using the tag designation consumes a great deal of the team’s salary cap.  In 2020, the Rams cannot afford to pay a significant amount to any one player. Snead described wanting to err in free agency on giving his players the chance to test their market value in free agency.

With so much buzz over projected free agents like defensive end Michael Brockers, inside linebacker Cory Littleton, and outside linebacker Dante Fowler Jr., there is little expectation for a home-team discount. One to three of them could likely establish the market price for 2020 free agents in 2020.  The LA Rams simply cannot afford to enter bidding wars over any player.

Comp pick strategy?

The LA Rams 2021 NFL Draft appears to be rather light in terms of draft picks. Both the 2021 first-round and fourth-round picks were traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars for Jalen Ramsey. The 2021 fifth-round pick was traded to the Cleveland Browns for guard Austin Corbett.  However, the Rams did pick up a 2021 fifth-round pick from the Baltimore Ravens in the deal which sent cornerback Marcus Peters to Baltimore.

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When the interview turned towards the Rams strategy for the 2020 free agency market and using the departure of some highly paid free agents to generate 2021 compensatory draft picks, Snead claimed that he was distracted and needed the question repeated (at the 11:00 minute mark).

Snead stated that ultimately the answer is yes, the Rams are factoring in the potential for up to four 2021 compensatory draft picks in this year’s free-agent strategy. Snead discussed head coach Sean McVay’s buy-in on the comp formula strategy.  He then narrated the decision to trade a second-round pick for wide receiver Sammy Watkins, understanding that he leaves at the end of the year for a potential third-round pick in the following NFL draft.

Snead repeated that the Rams cannot keep all of the good players, citing the business end of the NFL as the limiting factor.  The interview seemed to confirm that the LA Rams are prepared to bite the bullet of dealing with the player-friendly highly compensating contracts by working under a very limiting budget in the 2020 NFL free agency market.

Snead loves third and fourth-round draft picks

Throughout the interview, there was a message from Snead about the value of the third and fourth-round draft picks. Snead pointed out that both Bobby Evans and Cooper Kupp were third-round selections for the LA Rams.

This strategy is difficult to adhere to at the Rams current situation of high expectations set both externally and internally. Snead acknowledged that the replacement players will likely not be as good as the ones who leave via free agency.  Snead then stated that this is the phase the LA Rams are in, and that is the formula the Rams will employ this offseason.  He admitted that this creates challenges this off-season.

Snead reiterated that the overall theme of the offense will be essentially the same style. But as he turned towards the Rams 2020 defense, he admitted that new defensive coordinator Brandon Staley will be asking for new types of defensive players. While he will run the 3-4 defense, Staley will be adding a great deal of versatility to the defensive looks in 2020.

We discussed the many ways Staley will unlock the full potential of All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald in 2020 by adding new looks and assignments to the defensive roles. Snead seemed to suggest that the 2020 NFL Draft will be heavily focused upon the defensive side of the ball. Snead indicated that Staley will need new types of players. That suggests the Rams will be seeking the versatile multi-position players in the 2020 NFL Draft.

With this interview, which could very likely be a complete pre-draft pre-free-agency smokescreen, Rams’ general manager Les Snead laid out a fairly austere off-season for the Rams.  We’ve talked about this frugal fix scenario when discussing the offensive line. It seems like a good time to work up a frugal fix for the defense article now, as well.