LA Rams good, bad, and ugly impact of Cards S Baker xtension

The Arizona Cardinals made Budda Baker the highest-paid safety in the NFL. Here is the ugly, the bad and the good impact of that transaction on the LA Rams

Even as the LA Rams continue to inch towards signing star cornerback Jalen Ramsey to an extension, the NFL market value for football players continues to swell. Each day, the market value sets a new high for some NFL position.  Whether it is a defensive lineman, and offensive lineman, a cornerback, a quarterback, a tight end, or even an NFL safety, the NFL news is filled with headlines about some NFL player signing a new contract, for a record-setting sum of money.

The latest news about another all-time-high amount of money being paid to an NFL player is all thanks to the efforts of the Arizona Cardinals and their young safety, Budda Baker

That’s a nice chunk of change to plunk down for a player who has yet to lead the NFL in his position.  But it is a curious strategy for the Cardinals, who have now dictated terms for two of their NFC West Rivals in negotiating contracts with their star safeties. I’m talking about the Seattle Seahawks and Jamal Adams, and of course the LA Rams and John Johnson III

The Ugly

The LA Rams will not be able to spend that kind of money to re-sign veteran safety John Johnson III next season. It’s not that the team undervalues his role, the Rams love him. In fact, the word is that he will be the play-caller for the defense in 2020. That type of responsibility only happens when the team trusts the player completely.

John Johnson is the embodiment of everything the Rams want in a safety. He’s tough. He is great at run defense. He is solid in pass defense. He will play the ball, and will oftentimes end up with it instead of the receiver. He is a solid teammate, helping younger players find their way through this compressed training camp. Most of all, he adds a bit of swagger to the secondary.

The Bad

The LA Rams yet-to-be-negotiated contract with Jalen Ramsey will be a show-stopper now for sure. But the Rams don’t have the available funds freed up to do so. So it’s a waiting game. The money is there. But it’s rolled up as roster bonuses, salaries, and other forms of compensation that hit the 2020 salary cap fully.

The bad news is that the Rams have multiple players they want to re-sign. But due to the constraints of the 2020 salary cap, and the commitments to other players, the team will be hard-pressed to keep everyone. Current high-profile starters including Ramsey, WR Cooper Kupp, S John Johnson III, TE Gerald Everett, CB Darious Williams, CB Troy Hill, and WR Josh Reynolds are only a few of the players who will are projected to test the NFL Free Agency market next year.

The Good

If John Johnson III signs with a new NFL team, the terms of that new contract will likely place the LA Rams into position for an award of either a third or fourth-round compensatory pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.  Right now, the LA Rams do not have their 2022 NFL Draft fourth-round pick, as that was traded away to the Houston Texans to balance out the trade that sent Brandin Cooks. The team does have an extra seventh-round pick in 2022, thanks to the trade that sent CB Aqib Talib to the Miami Dolphins.

While there is no way that losing a safety of Johnson’s caliber can be “good” (hence the ugly and bad first), the loss has a silver lining if it generates an extra pick in 2022. Plunking an extra draft pick into the Rams 2022 NFL Draft would be a great consolation prize. In the meantime, don’t discount the fact that two rookies, Terrell Burgess and Jordan Fuller, are having one helluva training camp after starting safety Taylor Rapp tweaked his knee.

The price for top talent in the NFL is on the rise once more. The LA Rams roster is blessed with plenty of top talent, and so far in this year’s training camp, it appears that new talent is in the pipeline to take over down the road. It’s never easy to pay everyone in the NFL. And the Arizona Cardinals have made it that much tougher by practically writing a blank check to their young safety Budda Baker. While that complicates things for the LA Rams, it does come with a silver lining.