4 reasons why LA Rams may not re-sign Leonard Floyd to 2nd contract

Reason IV – Comp picks

The LA Rams do many wonderful things where the NFL Draft is concerned. The LA Rams continue to find NFL starting-caliber talent even as deep as the late rounds. The LA Rams continue to exchange their first-round draft picks for established NFL players. And finally, the LA Rams have become rather adept at building up players, watching them sign big deals elsewhere when their contracts are up, and then graciously accept compensatory draft picks that are awarded to the Rams the following year.

The rules and formula for awarding compensatory draft pick are as follows:
(1) – No more than 32 compensatory picks will be awarded in any given draft
(2) – No more than four compensatory picks will be awarded to any single team

The formula for determining the round and number of compensatory picks to be awarded to any specific team is based on the value of contracts signed by free agents the previous season.  The LA Rams lost Dante Fowler Jr., Cory Littleton, and Greg Zuerlein to other teams in the 2020 NFL Free Agency market. The Rams signed one free agent, NT A’Shawn Robinson.  Robinsons contract offsets that of Zuerlein.

Since the Chicago Bears released Leonard Floyd, he will not enter into any offsets. So the Rams are expected to be awarded a third-round pick for Fowler, and a fourth-round pick for Littleton. The Rams are also expecting a third-round compensatory pick to be awarded for the Detroit Lions hiring of executive Brad Holmes to be their new GM.

So the Rams signed Floyd for a reasonable one-year deal for $10 million. When he leaves, the Rams could pick up another draft pick, perhaps one as valuable as a third-round pick, in the 2022 NFL Draft. It’s that compensatory pick pipeline that continues to buoy the LA Rams talent pool even as they trade away their first-round picks.