LA Rams Goff-Stafford trade: Way too soon winners and losers
By Jay Blucher
Who should hate this deal?
Well, the initial reaction of quarterback Jared Goff was understandably quite negative. For good reason too. The LA Rams practically circulated Goff’s photo among 31 other NFL teams with the caption: ‘Will you adopt me?’
Listen, I get it that the Rams and quarterback Jared Goff arrived at a time to part ways. In fact, we saw the inevitable parting before many were willing to accept the obvious. In many ways, greatness comes at the expense of mediocrity. In an offense that started as one of the highest-scoring offenses in the NFL, the plummet to the lower third in terms of points on the board was intolerable for LA Rams head coach Sean McVay.
Decisions happen quickly in LA. One moment, RB Todd Gurley, WR Brandin Cooks, and QB Jared Goff were signing incredibly lucrative deals loaded with guaranteed money. The next year, they’re gone. Poof! And that forces the front office to load up contracts and then unload those contracts. Dead cap space?
The real aversion comes when the dollars in this reckless on-off mindset are held up to display. Per Spotrac.com, the LA Rams are suffering under the burden of nearly $40 million of dead cap space in 2021, and coming off the 2020 dead cap space of $38.5 million. That’s over $78 million of salary cap lost to the team in the past two seasons. Money that was removed from the team’s books due to cash-up-front money to extend players deemed unworthy of remaining on the roster just one or two years later.