LA Rams Tony Pastoors inks the deals, for better or worse

The LA Rams have been very successful. But in terms of writing NFL contracts, that burden falls upon Vice President, Football & Business Administration Tony Pastoors. He’s the actual authority for the LA Rams to construct and execute the player contracts that we have learned so much about in the headlines about the team. Yes, that’s right. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

There is an art form to negotiating and writing a contract. It’s a difficult blend of empathy and pragmatism. It requires someone to understand the other side of the table, yet be able to use common sense. Occasionally, it even requires stepping away so as not to get lost in the forest for the trees.

Contract negotiations are very difficult to master. Both sides typically want to strike up a deal. One side has one price and set of options. The other side has a different price and set of options. So the key is to give the opposite side everything that they want, while not compromising anything that you want.

So how do any contracts get written that both sides sign? Because different sides want different things. Fortunately, they are not mutually exclusive.

The LA Rams want to minimize salary cap expense, guaranteed money, flexibility, and severability.  Agents and players want to maximize cash upfront, guaranteed money, and long term security. So how can both sides win? NFL teams can build in bonuses that act as GO. In short, each time a bonus is triggered, a new cash payment is due to the player.

Agents want to guarantee money for their clients. That money ultimately becomes the ‘dead cap’ money that the Rams struggle to overcome whenever they release or trade a player who has received upfront money.

A pot of gold

The LA Rams are rather generous when they want to sign a player, and when they want to extend a player. But there are too many occasions where the team is ‘in love’ with a player one year, and out of love with them the next. When the Rams sign the contracts, the consensus is that they are good contracts. When the player fails to perform as expected, the same deals become bad contracts. When the Rams move on from a player and have to swallow a tremendous amount of dead cap money, they are ugly contracts.

Of course, before any contract is signed, it is vetted by General Manager Les Snead to ensure it does not exceed their positional ‘budget’. It’s also vetted by head coach Les Snead, to ensure the terms meet his needs in terms of building a roster.

Tony Pastoors writes the contracts. Not Les Snead. Not Sean McVay. But they all have a say and input on the final product. Suffice to say that when the LA Rams suddenly do an about-face on a player, it’s not a matter of Les Snead painting the Rams into a corner.  Sean McVay points at who he wants on the roster, and who he wants off. Tony Pastoors writes the deals that make it happen. And Les Snead sets the budget, lines up the next crop of potential players, and works the phones to find teams interested in Rams players who have fallen out of favor.

These crazy high paying deals that lock up a player for many years, but which must be severed are a symptom of more than a wheeling-dealing GM.  And it’s time that we set the record straight.