LA Rams gamble on their own players, and win

The LA Rams may not be a team that electrifies the NFL during the NFL Free Agency market. But the organization does have a fine reputation for taking care of its own players.  Whenever a team is signing players up for their roster, many outside of those negotiations focus upon the overall average value of the contract.

But players and their agents know better. Contracts can be voided. Players can be waived, released, cut, or simply sent packing. The true value of an NFL contract for the players and the sports agents who represent them lies in the guaranteed money.

And yes, the LA Rams seem to guarantee a lot of it. Much more than most, which is surprising because the organization is seldom headlining anything in free agency.

Much of the team’s free agency work typically occurs in extending players. So that means that the organization has plenty of first-hand experience, and is comfortable ensuring that the player is satisfied in terms of financial security. That makes it easier to ensure that players get ‘paid’ because the team already has built familiarity and a level of trust with them.

And that goes both ways too.

The players who do re-sign their contract with the Rams are often aware of the fact that they may have settled for a dash of less money. But as you may have noticed, Cory Littleton, Dante Fowler Jr., and even Morgan Fox did not exactly end up with the sum of money they envisioned when they sign on with other teams.

Quite the opposite, in fact. Because they were released by their respective teams prematurely, they never did realize the true value of the contract that they signed in good faith. If I’m an NFL player, I take note of those things. I expect they do too.

Ultimately, it’s not about what a contract is worth at face value, but how much of that contract value ends up in a player’s bank account. If the team is the LA Rams, you can expect a lot of that contract money to end up in the checking account.

Is that risky? Perhaps. But the Rams try to be honest and forthright with players. That may cost them a contract with a player who bites on the bigger contract elsewhere, but in the end, the team retains the players who value high character.

After everything is said and done, they are the players worth re-signing.