LA Rams: 3 reasons team is playing percentages on Robert Woods trade

Factor II: The money didn’t work

We have been introducing the fiscal aspects of ‘balancing the roster‘ as situational economic factors as we prepare for each NFL Free Agency market. In 2021, we noted that the LA Rams were the Top-spending team on the defensive line position. That was before the team entered the 2021 NFL Free Agency marketplace, and proved to be a Stormcrow of sorts.

Soon after, the LA Rams traded starting veteran defensive lineman, Michael Brockers, one of the leaders of this team, to the Detroit Lions as a salary dump that netted a 2023 seventh-round pick. Brockers, a vital team leader and veteran defensive lineman, was insistent that he would not take less money from the LA Rams unless they would counter with more guaranteed money. That difference of opinion proved to be an impasse.

Reading the tea leaves

That same positional spending analysis seemed to be the equivalent of reading the tea leaves once more this year. Before the 2022 NFL Free Agency market opened, the LA Rams were already spending the third most on wide receivers than other NFL teams. The plan was to add free-agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., a move that would have pushed the Rams into the Top-spending team on wide receivers.

Instead, the LA Rams added a wide receiver named Allen Robinson who they feel is among the Top 10 at the wide receiver position. That addition pushed the team into the fiscal danger zone, very similar to an unbalanced top-loading washing machine. Once more, the LA Rams acted. This time, the decision was to relieve the team of one out of three of their veteran wide receivers, all of whom were making more than $12 million a year.

This time, the team traded veteran wide receiver, Robert Woods, another one of the leaders of this team. This time the trade was to the Tennessee Titans as a salary dump that netted a 2023 sixth-round pick. The team is slowly renovating the roster. It seems that the past two years, examining where the LA Rams have overly committed in spending is the position that is most vulnerable to a salary-dump trade.