Very doable: LA Rams roster and retaining 2022 free agents

The LA Rams have worked and reworked the 2021 roster to have what the organization believes is the best chance to win this season. That is nothing new, as all 32 teams go through a similar process, all with the same goal in mind: Win the Super Bowl. The art of roster building is understanding where to invest the limited salary cap dollars, and where not to.

The LA Rams have elected to focus their dollars among a half-dozen or so elite game-changers. Pay them, let them elevate the play of the other players on the football field, and win games that way. So far, the Rams’ unmatched success over the past five years suggests that the team is onto something.

But now, the same potent 2021 Rams roster appears to be primed for a massive exodus of some of the best talent in the NFL for the 2022 NFL Free Agency market. 19 total players, of which 12 will become Unrestricted Free Agents (UFAs), three will be Restricted Free Agents (RFAs), and four will be Exclusive Rights Free Agents (ERFAs).

If you have missed that minor detail, the LA Rams have added players to the roster this year with only one year remaining on their contract. Players like wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., outside linebacker Von Miller, running back Sony Michel, were all signed up or traded for with the foreknowledge that in 2022, they would all be in need of a new NFL team to play for. |

The projected list for the LA Rams project free agents can be found at Spotrac.com. Using the same source, Spotrac.com projects the team’s 2022 salary cap to have approximately $7.2 million to spend next year.

While the amount of cap space is less important at this point, Spotrac.com has the LA Rams projected to be the 27th-ranked NFL team in terms of available cap space, but with 39 players under contract for next season. How much money does the team have to spend? Right now, that number is estimated at just under $7.2 million.

Now, armed with the amount of money that the team has to spend, we can turn our attention to extending players for next year and beyond. How much will that cost? We can estimate the expense in terms of value to sign the projected free agents.

Unfortunately, that’s where it turns a bit pessimistic, as a quick and dirty estimate of contract values for 2022 indicates that the Rams need approximately $67.5 million of available cap space to extend all their potential free agents. We give you the breakdown on the next slide: