The 2022 NFL Free Agency Market very important for LA Rams

The LA Rams are not exactly known in recent years for their ability to wheel and deal amidst all of the big-names in the NFL who are auctioning off their services to the highest bidder. After all, the methods used by the Rams front office are such that their own data analytics all but sets the fair market value for a player, and the team makes every effort to stay at or under that number.

In the NFL Free Agency market, there is little regard to fair market value in the ensuing bidding wars that are as much about filling the seats in the stadium and selling team merchandise as getting a top talent to play on the football field. The Rams prefer to acquire their top talent via NFL Trades.

What a difference a year makes

But this year could be a bit different for the Rams. Even as the Rams are the defending NFL Champions, they are walking into the 2022 NFL Draft with eight picks, none of which fall among the Top-100 in the draft.  It’s the equivalent of shopping for groceries with a pocket full of coins, while all other NFL teams head straight to the butcher at the back of the store for freshly carved steaks.

The greatest challenge for the LA Rams is that this is not a typical off-season. After all, the LA Rams have just won Super Bowl LVI. Now, it’s not just about re-signing players whose contracts have expired, but it’s also about upping the ante for those players who want to reclaim their position as highest-paid (fill in the blank for NFL position) in the NFL.

And so, there is significantly more competition for the limited amount of salary cap dollars to toss at free agents, because the team must toss some of those dollars to players already under contract. But it cannot be willy-nilly. The Rams must set firm criteria, and maintain tremendous discipline, in meting out their 2022 contractual salary dollars. For every dollar spent on one player, three other players must do without.