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

The LA Rams had options on either a franchise or transition tag to employ in 2020. Here are three reasons why they did not use either.

The LA Rams may have appeared to the naked eye to have been caught flat-footed by the 2020 NFL Free Agency period. While that may be the case, it’s highly unlikely. Of course, the appearance from the fans’ point of view may not see all the activity occurring behind the scenes, but that simply means that appearances can be deceiving.

Let’s be honest. It’s easy for the off-the-street fan to point at an NFL free agency list and declare a recognized name as the player the LA Rams should target in the NFL Free Agency market.  And it’s easy to just slap recognizable names into a makeshift NFL roster with no concerns to

But that ignores the fit to what the Rams do either offensively or defensively, ignores the team’s salary situation, and ignores the competing bids for that player or others like him.  The Rams are a very dynamic team right now. While the basic framework for the team remains the same, the characteristics of successful players on the team are changing.  In some roles, those characteristics may not be truly defined and/or vetted.

That’s why the LA Rams coordinators elected not to attend the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine. In short, they had months’ worth of work to accomplish in just several weeks. Some of that may still be yet to do. And it’s all due to the Rams hiring new coordinators

Reason 3 – New Coordinators

Despite the fact that the Rams have retained positional coaches, the team is in flux. Not anything major like a switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense, or a sweeping change of offensive play calling. But changes nonetheless.  The changes are scheme driven, a subtle change of philosophy.

On offense, the new scheme is simply about getting younger, faster, and on the fly. By the end of 2020, the Rams offensive line will likely be completely new compared to the offensive line which lined up in Super Bowl LIII.  And that’s not all.  The team is looking to become more effective and less predictable. While there is virtually no chance of the team changing the guy under center, the team will likely be looking for ways to surround quarterback Jared Goff with playmakers and more effective plays. Right now, the Rams are open to trading away running back Todd Gurley and wide receiver Brandin Cooks. They will still have WRs Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, TE Tyler Higbee, and the makings of a far more effective offensive line in 2020.

On defense, the differences will be a bit more obvious and dramatic.  The Vic Fangio defense is, to put it plainly, like a swarm of hornets. No one player is above the rest, but the actions of all eleven players on the field are such that the defense adapts, swarms, converges, and gang tackles. That may be out of necessity, as the team has already watched Michael Brockers and Cory Littleton depart via the 2020 NFL Free Agency market. Of course, the LA Rams defense will feature All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald, who gives any defensive coordinator an insane advantage at the line of scrimmage.  He plays at the equivalent level of two defensive linemen, giving the Rams the makings of a 4-4-4 defense.

Reason 2 – Les Snead said the team wouldn’t

The LA Rams may be playing the long game this year. The long game meaning a view of winning over the long haul, and no more of the win-now mentality. That is a long-overdue change of philosophy for the LA Rams, but the sudden downshift has left many caught off-guard. What exactly are the Rams planning for 2020?

Well, it’s tough to tell how this cake will taste at the point in time where the Rams have not even begun to add the ingredients. What is needed right now is patience. In fact, we’d discussed patience as the key component to the LA Rams offseason when discussing ways to fix the offensive line. But the same concept of patience applies to virtually all areas of this Rams team in 2020.

But in a recent interview on March 4, 2020, Rams general manager Les Snead pretty much committed to the Rams not using either the franchise or transition tag on any 2020 unrestricted free agent. But in its place, Snead suggested that the Rams are weighing all their 2020 offseason moves against the impact of being awarded 2021 compensatory picks.

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.

Quick and Dirty Cap math

The Rams are up against it financially now.  The unwillingness of the team or the highly paid skill players to rework those highly paid highly guaranteed contracts is now taking its toll on the free agency flexibility of the team.  Doing some quick and dirty calculations, the Rams committed to:
Enter FA with $23.2 million
Free up additional $4.5 million by declining option year for slot CB Nickell Robey-Coleman   LINK
Committed ($825K) via qualifying offer to TE Johnny Mundt (3 years)   LINK
Committed ($675K) via qualifying offer to C Coleman Shelton (1 year)  LINK
Committed ($2.0M) deal estimated  to C Austin Blythe                      LINK
Committed ($13.0M) deal to OLB Leonard Floyd                                   LINK
Committed ($13.5M) deal to LT Andrew Whitworth                              LINK

Pluses: $27.7 million   Minuses: $29.5 million  NET: ($1.8 million)

That is why the LA Rams made the “What are they doing?” moves so far. The Rams are running at an estimated $2.0 million shortfall right now.  Paying players at the top of the NFL food chain at multiple positions is a huge pattern for the Rams this year.  And with so much money in the hands of players and guaranteed, there simply is not enough left to go around.

The team needs to make more moves JUST TO GET UNDER THE 2020 NFL Salary Cap. Beyond that, the team needs to free up an additional $5 million to afford any NFL Draft rookies.   And if the team signs any UDFAs with a signing bonus, that could have an additional impact on the team’s cap space.