Can the LA Rams survive without spending in 2020 NFL Free Agency?
By Bret Stuter
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Beyond that, the team has a shopping list of true roster “needs” this year. The cause? Right now, the team is looking at losing over a third of the 2019 53-man roster. Ten players become unrestricted free agents and can sign with any NFL willing to meet their asking price. The Rams do not have enough available cap space to meet those price tags.
One player, veteran safety Eric Weddle, has already retired. For the best run NFL teams, roster needs dictate signing free agents. That allows the team to draft the best player available. But the LA Rams feel a bit on the lethargic side this year. The latest interview by general manager Les Snead did not sound like the man is working tirelessly to build the best possible roster for the Rams this season.
Ironically, the plan feels like the personnel team is aiming towards 2021 to spring out of the gates. It feels as though everything has happened far too quickly, so the Rams may pause the cycle of re-signing players until the front office is certain who, or what, those players should be.
That hesitancy to make moves has left this entire 2020 off-season with a fair amount of uncertainty. Even a benign move like restructuring the contract of Jared Goff to push enough funds off the 2020 Salary cap to make room for additional veteran players seems unlikely. So the battleground of decisions moves from which NFL veteran free agents will the team pursue towards which restricted free agent will the Rams retain.