3 ways the LA Rams can come up with additional 2021 Draft picks

Tag and Trade

Option III– Tag and trade a player for pick(s). Right now, the LA Rams face the potential loss of John Johnson III, Troy Hill, Darious Williams, Leonard Floyd, Morgan Fox, and Samson Ebukam. They comprise nearly one-half of the defensive snaps for the top-ranked defense in the NFL.

Losing all that defensive production is significant. Unfortunately, the LA Rams do not have enough free cap space to hope to re-sign more than a couple of players. That does create some challenges for the Rams. After all, even if the team has the right talent on the team today to fill so many roles, those players will need backfill to ensure talent is available during the season in the case of injury or unmet expectations.

So there is the Tag-and-Trade option. Essentially, it is a way to commit a franchise tag on a player to effectively re-sign that player on a one-year deal. Then, the Rams have the right to trade that player to a team of the Rams’ choice in exchange for compensation, usually in the form of draft picks.

But what about not having enough salary cap room? Well, that’s the beauty of this strategy. As long as the Rams are certain of a trading partner, trading that player removes the salary cap hit from the Rams’ books. In essence, the Rams get (a) draft pick(s) by tagging a player.

But who would that strategy apply to? Well, the market for safety John Johnson III is rather heated. For that matter, so is the market for outside linebacker Leonard Floyd. By any account, he is sought after by as many as ten NFL teams. The key to this strategy is to get at least a first or second-round pick in any trade. Otherwise, the Rams will likely get either a third or fourth-round draft pick the following year.