LA Rams day 3 NFL Free Agency recap – renovations underway

The LA Rams got busy in day 3 of NFL Free Agency, filling 2 defense vacancies. While early, pattern forming is versatile multi-role players to man 2020 defense

Well the LA Rams have just crossed the threshold into the 2020 NFL Free Agency market on March 18, 2020, as of 1:00 pm PT. So the official NFL 2020 season is just hours old as this article is written.  Funny how even that short time period can be filled with plenty of surprises. The previous 2 recaps reflected what many call the “legal tampering” period, that odd pre-season 48 hour period where teams and agents could negotiate and agree upon potential contract terms for new 2020 deals, but yesterday afternoon opened the period for those agreements to be put to paper and officially endorsed.

Let’s get right to it, shall we?  If the first two days of the NFL Free Agency season were the calm before the storm, then yesterday was the storm.  The Rams ended the day with a net GAIN of free agents. And to be truthful, nine articles later and I’m still not clear how they will manage to pay for it all.

The Rams fought hard to re-sign OLB Dante Fowler Jr, but in the end, the Atlanta Falcons outbid for his services. Suspicions are that he was a later signing because the Rams tried very hard to retain him.  If you need a silver lining, his contract should push the Rams into consideration to be awarded a second 3rd-round compensatory 2021 compensatory draft pick.

More from Rams Free Agency

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• Should the LA Rams revisit bringing Odell Beckham Jr. back?
• Why the Los Angeles Rams should extend Baker Mayfield
• Baker Mayfield faces stiff QB competition in NFL Free Agency market

So the team jumped into acquisition mode.  First, the team signed dependable and versatile interior offensive lineman Austin Blythe. Then the team wasted no time in addressing the defense by signing outside linebacker Leonard Floyd. The team then returned to the offense by re-signing left tackle Andrew Whitworth. Finally, the team returned to the defense by signing defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson.

Whew!

Of course, those moves didn’t seem to add up to come in under the 2020 Salary cap, but the team continues to make moves.

The 2021 comp pick calculations for the day generated +1 third-round comp pick for Fowler and -1 fourth-round comp pick by the offsetting effect of signing free agent Robinson. The aggregate expected 2021 comp pick award is for two third-round comp picks.

The defensive coordinator changing over to Brandon Staley seems to be taking shape in the type of players signed so far.  The two players, Floyd and Robinson, both of whom are versatile enough to fill multiple roles and responsibilities on defense. Both athletic and strong, play the run exceedingly well.

The LA Rams can no longer be confused with a “business as usual” status. In fact, the team cannot be confused with a team content to “tweak” some minor corrections at all.  The team’s course is clearly and dramatically altered by the disappointment of the 2019 season.  While the team had options to free up space, the team so far has elected to stick to the same personnel on offense, but take a new course with new players on defense.

The offseason will involve far more changes than originally hoped. This is the recap of just “Day 3”.  Buckle up Rams fans, this offseason is going to be one helluva roller coaster.