3 reasons why LA Rams didn’t use team franchise tag in 2020

Reason 1 – LA Rams cannot afford to do so

There is an old adage in the healthcare industry. No money, no mission. While that does not always fit the circumstances in the NFL, it most certainly does apply to the struggles facing the LA Rams in the 2020 offseason.

Ultimately, the Rams had a priority for the offseason, a hierarchy of needs. The team’s general manager Les Snead stated in an interview that the priorities this offseason were re-signing left tackle Andrew Whitworth and outside linebacker Dante Fowler Jr.

Rough estimates for the “per year” cost of those two projected free agents came in at over $22 million.  The Rams available cap space entering the 2020 NFL Free Agent market was only $23 million.

That would not allow enough funds for the team to meet the funding needs for rookies selected in the upcoming NFL Draft, nor would it allow the Rams any wiggle room to generate qualifying tender offers to restricted and exclusive restrictive free agents.

NFL team designations trigger automatic salary cap holds based on the position and the tag used. Since the Rams were already too close to the 2020 cap limits, the team had no margin of error when it came to locking up a large chunk of added dollars to just one player.  And for the players the Rams needed, the tags were too expensive.