How do LA Rams afford NFL Free Agency signings? They can’t, yet

The LA Rams are linked to 5 free agents in the 2020 NFL Free Agency market. But the Rams are only trying them on, and likely will return some to the market

The LA Rams have been connected to several NFL Free agency signings so far in this offseason. The team has been reported to re-signing left tackle Andrew Whitworth, center Austin Blythe, defensive lineman Michael Brockers, and adding outside linebacker Leonard Floyd and defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson. The elephant in the room is the fact that the Rams haven’t sufficient cap space to endorse all these contracts without additional work to free up cap space.

We have been stating our suspicions with each signing. First, when the team announced adding DT A’Shawn Robinson. We doubled down on the same curiosity when the Rams announced bringing back DT Michael Brockers.  In that article, we pointed out:

"“How will the LA Rams pay for this? Well, the only options are to restructure, renegotiate, or trade players. I suspect this warrants pushing QB Jared Goff to restructure his deal and free up over $20 million.”- Bret Stuter, FanSided Ramblin Fan"

The Rams may be creating an even bigger mess right now. In the effort to retain top NFL talent, the first step is having adequate money to do so. Right now, the Rams do not have that available money, which means they will be under a lot of pressure to find it.

Kiting FA contracts is not a good strategy

The latest article by Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk.com suggests that the Rams are kiting contracts. Much like the old trick of “kiting checks”, the Rams have drawn upon contracts for multiple NFL players, but have not freed up the money to pay for them. So the team awaits the results of a medical examination while the team weighs out their options.

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That is a practice that seems to be gaining popularity this year.  Two Rams’ free agents have had projected deals negated so far this offseason. The Baltimore Ravens had buyer’s remorse after a medical examination flagged DT Michael Brocker’s ankle. And S Marqui Christian found the NY Jets backing out of a one-year deal. Unless the Rams attempt a similar strategy, the team will be on the hook for a great deal more money than they have available.

Despite the aversion to restructuring contracts, the Rams have painted themselves into a corner.  Either the team goes about restructuring Goff’s contract now, which will push his tremendous amount of cap dollars into future years, or the team works quickly on trading players to free up cap space. Should the team fail to do either, they will need to tear up one or more potential player contracts, which will damage their reputation as they attempt to negotiate future deals.

While this has all been made possible by the impact of COVID-19 and the makeshift processes thrown together to address free agency signings without meeting players at the team facilities, the Rams have found a creative solution to their “no money” dilemma.

Temp help? Or a permanent headache?

But this is all temporary. If the Rams commit to signing all players, they will need to free up a lot of money in 2020.  Per the latest estimates from Spotrac.com, the Rams 2020 cap number is just $5.5 million, plus an additional $4.3 million to allow for the team’s 2020 NFL Draft prospects.  That number does not reflect the impact of Leonard Floyd, Michael Brockers, nor Austin Blythe.

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Those contracts will run at least an additional $21 million or more in 2020.   The Rams do not have that amount of cap space to commit right now, nor will they without some plan of action by the front office.

Since the LA Rams have committed to spend more money than they are allotted, the team will be under pressure to make it right by finding places to save. That means the vetting process will be streamlined, allowing a greater chance of the team missing something or plain out making a bad decision.

I’m all for innovation and creativity. But I tend to shy away when it involves spending limits, particularly when that involves the NFL Salary Cap. After all, that isn’t a strong suit for LA Rams general manager Les Snead. With the team depending upon having sufficient available funds to retain Jalen Ramsey and Cooper Kupp next year, the team

This is a mini-drama within the 2020 offseason drama.  It will be curious how this all plays out.