LA Rams NFL Free Agency Week 1 recap

LA Rams can now look back at the first week of NFL Free Agency in this recap. The six picks in the 2020 NFL Draft grow increasingly important,

The LA Rams emerged from the first week somewhat intact. Simply from the team roster, the impact was more window dressing than substantial. The Rams had no money to spend, so not spending much money in free agency was the natural outcome.

The LA Rams did some things well, some things not so well, and some things got a huge INCOMPLETE grade. But the 2020 NFL Free Agency period has only concluded its first week. If you have commented or concluded that the Rams have mailed it in, or will finish under .500 in 2020, I can reassure you that the team is just getting started.

Let’s not kid ourselves. We knew exactly what this off-season would entail, from the moment LA Rams general manager openly admitted in a March 4, 2020 interview that the team would not explore restructuring major contracts to free up salary-cap space for the 2020 NFL Free Agency market.

At just $23 million in available cap space, and looking at re-signing left tackle Andrew Whitworth and outside linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. as the team’s priorities, there was no hope for a long shopping list getting filled by the Rams this year.  Entering free agency, Whitworth estimated salary cap hit was $10.6 million per season, while Fowler’s estimated salary cap hit was $16 million per season.  Combined, the two players exceeded all of the Rams’ available funds.

So who DIDN’T the Rams retain?

Outbound Rams

The LA Rams truly did not have much hope, of any, to re-sign many free agents.  The team is undergoing a huge transition on defense, a philosophical modification on the offense, and a new sheriff on special teams.  While many reasons will be given, the basic reason was no money.  the Rams outright lost the following players to other teams so far:

WR Mike Thomas – Thomas reportedly signs a one-year deal with the Cincinnati Bengals.
His free-agent analysis is here.
WR Jojo Natson  –    Natson reportedly signs a one-year deal with the Cleveland Browns
His free-agent analysis is here.
S Marqui Christian  – Christian reportedly signs a one-year deal with the New York Jets
His free-agent analysis is here.
OLB Dante Fowler Jr. – Fowler reported signs a three-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons
His free-agent analysis is here.
RB Todd Gurley          – Gurley reported signs a one-year deal with Atlanta Falcons
Details of teams interested in signing Gurley.
DE Michael Brockers – Brockers signs three-year deal with Baltimore Ravens
His free-agent analysis is here.
ILB Cory Littleton       – Littleton signs three-year deal with Las Vegas Raiders
His free-agent analysis is here.
S Eric Weddle (he retired) -Details of his retirement are here

In total, these eight veterans are no longer options for the LA Rams

Inbound Rams

The list of players signing with the team is a bit shorter. You may note that any LA Rams player associated with any blocking assignments was retained this year. That is not a coincidence. The Rams invested heavily in the offensive line in previous years in the 2018 and 2019 NFL Draft,  Added to that is the mid-season acquisition of both Austin Corbett and Coleman Shelton, and you find the Rams have a strong deep group at the offensive line. I expect that the Rams will NOT be drafting heavily from the offensive line in the 2020 NFL Draft as a result.

LT Andrew Whitworth (re-signed) – Whitworth re-signs three-year deal with LA Rams
His free-agent analysis is here.
IOL Austin Blythe (re-signed)   –       Blythe resigns one-year deal with LA Rams
His free-agent analysis is here.
DL A’Shawn Robinson             –           Robinson signs two-year deal with LA Rams
OLB Leonard Floyd                  –           Floyd signs one-year deal with LA Rams
C Coleman Shelton                  –            Shelton receives a qualifying offer from Rams
His ERFA analysis is here
TE Johnny Mundt                     –            Mundt receives a qualifying offer from Rams
His ERFA analysis is here

The Rams did fill two defensive vacancies so far in free agency.  The Robinson signing negates the Brockers loss, and the Floyd signing negates the release of outside linebacker Clay Matthews.

Limbo Rams

The List of players who have not yet signed with any team is getting smaller but still represents a significant loss to the team. After all, even among the players who have not yet signed with another team represent a significant number of snaps from the team’s defense.
Many teams who allow contracts to lapse, or who release players due to salary cap concerns. Unfortunately, that is likely not the case for the LA Rams.

Without exact and specific terms on the Blythe, Robinson, and Floyd contracts, it’s impossible to cite where the Rams are in their current salary cap situation. But before these contracts are factored in, Spotrac.com has the team at only $18.7 million in available space. That same report does not reflect the terms of the three outstanding players.  The math comes very close, either way, placing a virtual chokehold on the Rams efforts to sign additional players. So who is unsigned?

OLB Clay Matthews – details of his release are available here.
ILB Bryce Hager                       – his free-agent analysis is here
K Greg Zuerlein                        – his free-agent analysis is here
DE Morgan Fox                       – his free-agent analysis is here
DB Donte Deayon                   – his free-agent analysis is here
OLB Josh Carraway                  – his free-agent analysis is here
CB Nickell Robey-Coleman   – his free-agent analysis is here
QB Blake Bortles                      – his free-agent analysis is here

The struggle for the Rams roster is that many of these “limbo” players were part of the team’s depth at critical positions. The Rams linebacking corps has bee decimated by the potential loss of five of the players, many of whom accounted for the lion’s share of the team’s snaps at that position.  Thankfully, the Rams did sign two linebackers to future reserve contracts in January 2020.