LA Rams news: 2020 salary cap impact details on 2021 hard to come by.

LA Rams news: the team has reportedly resolved the 2020 salary cap overage by restructuring the contracts of QB Goff and RT Havenstein.

The latest LA Rams news has the team making good on their 2020 I.O.U.’s, or at least that was the latest reports available. We had reported that the LA Rams have found the money to pay for the 2020 salary cap deficit, both A’Shawn Robinson and Leonard Floyd, two new free agent kickers, and the 2020 NFL Draft class, by restructuring the contracts of quarterback Jared Goff and right tackle Rob Havenstein.

The only thing left to decypher is how these legal paper rewordings have impacted the team’s 2021 salary cap space. So far, those details are a bit sketchy. In fact, neither Spotrac.com nor OverTheCap.com, has published any of the LA Rams financial solutions for the 2020 salary cap.

That means neither website has a true picture of how the 2021 salary cap will play out. And even before the team’s future is corrected to reflect the portion of 2020’s salary pushed forward, the team is already in a tight spot.

The details for both contracts’ restructurings are not yet available for several reasons.  The Rams are not an open book on their financial details. And this time of year is a tsunami of financial impacting items at salary cap websites scrambling to reflect the likely contract impacts of the NFL Draft plus the small army of undrafted players whose contracts can include significant signing bonuses.  While the details will prove to have significant interest to many, those details are not yet ready for release.

Future free agent signings

Just for starters, the LA Rams will be trying to re-sign not 18 NFL Free Agents, but 22 free agents next year. While not all will tug on LA Rams’ fans’ heartstrings, there are a few who most definitely will cause some concerns.

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Cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey, Troy Hill, and safety John Johnson make up 75 percent of the team’s starting defensive backfield, wide receivers Cooper Kupp, Josh Reynolds, and tight end Gerald Everett make up approximately 50 percent of the team’s 2020 passing targets. OLB Leonard Floyd will likely be a very productive defender. Finally, both Austin Blythe and Coleman Shelton expect to be two of the offensive linemen who make the team’s 55-man roster, and will likely be starters.

In short, the list of 2021 LA Rams’ free agents will exhaust the available money supply long before the team has re-signed their free agents.  That means that 2021 will likely be another disappointing farewell to several fan favorites, a quiet departure of multiple role players who contribute on special teams or specific packages, and a potential welcome to a less-expensive NFL veteran option at a critical position.

We can certainly speculate about who the Rams’ priorities are today.  One such player is wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who had a standout 2019 season and will likely become one of the NFL’s elite receivers in 2020. Still, that comes with a double-edged sword. The Rams benefitted from the excellent play of inside linebacker Cory Littleton, but that solid 2019 performance likely priced him out of the Rams range in free agency.

Foggy future finances

As of today, the Rams 2021 projected salary cap space projects about $50 million. While that doesn’t pay for all 22 free agents, the Rams will lose some of that amount by any 2020 salary pushed into 2021.  And it’s that foggy future finances which will likely compel the LA Rams to lean heavily towards younger long-term players in camp competitions this year.  With the Rams entering one of the most competitive training camps at many positions, that bias towards the younger-cheaper player will be the deciding factor in several positions.

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Of course, thanks to the new CBA, the 2021 salary cap may improve dramatically. If the NFL adopts the new 17 game season format, some estimates of the 2021 salary cap project as high as $240 million, rather than the current $209 million estimate. While that amount of money will certainly help the Rams retain their key players, all NFL teams will have the same bump in their spending money.  So even the possibility of more money to spend does not ensure that the LA Rams will retain every player who is or will become a fan favorite.

The Rams must now develop from a surprisingly successful NFL team into a team that develops attractive and productive NFL Free Agents who move on to other NFL teams.  Ultimately, the goal becomes the Rams winning an NFL Super Bowl, and becomes a preferred destination of NFL veteran players that want to play on a winning team.

Second verse, same as the first

That’s the next chapter. For now, the LA Rams must prepare to develop talent rapidly, must be very accurate with limited draft picks, and must be successful at elevating undrafted players into long and successful NFL careers. The 2021 NFL Draft picks for the Rams now appears to be:

2021 NFL Draft projection
First-round – 0 (Traded for CB Jalen Ramsey)
Second-round – 1
Third round – 2 (add comp pick for Dante Fowler Jr.)
Fourth round – 1 (Traded for CB Jalen Ramsy, add comp pick for Cory Littleton)
Fifth-round – 1
Sixth-round  – 1
Seventh-round – 2 (potential comp pick for WR Mike Thomas)

It seems difficult not to project the Rams 2020 off-season into 2021, as many of the same no-money no-picks restrictions will once more hamper an aggressive effort to restock the roster. In short, what currently is, will likely be the roster for 2021 as well.

That may very well be the team’s deliberate plan. Financially, the team has gone all-in on quarterback Jared Goff on offense and Aaron Donald on defense. In that strategy, the team must now wait for both of these players to elevate the play of teammates and position the team to succeed.

The 2019 all-in effort by the Rams adversely impacted the team in 2020 but will have an impact upon 2021 as well. The Rams must transition from a team that buys talent from the NFL free-agent market to a team that develops that same level of quality talent. This is the first year to test that process. While we wait for the financial details of the Rams contract restructurings, it’s something to watch for in the 2020 NFL season.