LA Rams Rumors: Per Athletics Rodrigue, FA Stephon Gilmore is in talks

The LA Rams are the defending NFL Champions, and as such, they have become a default destination to link to practically any and all free agents, whether the rumors have any substantive foundation of factual events or not.

Rumors at this time of the NFL season have plenty of originations. Sometimes it’s simply the business of drumming up interest for ticket and merchandise sales, so a leaked whisper of talks with recognizable NFL stars can heat up the market.

Sometimes it’s the leaked whisper from a player’s agent, who is hoping to drum up interest in a player that he or she represents, and drops the name of a player and a team to ignite the interest of other teams who had been content to wait on the sidelines to that point in time.  Other motivations from agents can raise the offers from teams who are already interested.

And sometimes, it’s just a speculative observation from an NFL Insider or NFL analyst that the fit between a certain recognizable player and the team is just too logical not to pursue.

Rams Rumors: Talks with FA DB Stephon Gilmore per Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue

And of course, sometimes the rumors are based on actual events. After all, practically all NFL teams will contact a player’s agent to inquire what their asking price is.  Right now, The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue (subscription required) can confirm that the LA Rams have been in contact with free-agent cornerback Stephon Gilmore.

Is there mutual interest? Will they get a deal done? That all depends on what a player is looking for. And what about those heating up rumors between the LA Rams and Tyrann Mathieu?

Right now the LA Rams offer an outstanding opportunity to a savvy NFL player who is viewing their NFL career through a future-looking lens. Why? Well, as Rodrigue explains in full detail, the LA Rams are not in a position to pay market prices on either player. So why would anyone be interested in signing with the LA Rams right now?

Looking for that LA legacy

Well, everyone saw that a half-year stint with the LA Rams just got All-Pro OLB Von Miller an incredibly lucrative deal. So in a financial sense, a career path to the Rams can be just what the accountant ordered for the next contract offering.

And then there is that matter of winning a Super Bowl. Top NFL talent, particularly those who have played for their first lucrative deal, begin to look beyond the money to their own NFL Legacy. Leaving their mark on the NFL becomes a thing. And what better way than to join the LA Rams and help them to repeat as NFL champions once more.  There are seven teams in NFL history that have won consecutive Super Bowls, the last occasion was the Dallas Cowboys who repeated in 1992 and 1993.

Consecutive Super Bowl victories are not something that happens easily. So from a competitor’s standpoint, that itself beckons to attempt the feat.

Now, mind you that the LA Rams are not looking for pro bono work from free agents. They can structure a one-year deal with some voidable years to pay a player a healthy sum and not break their own bank in the process. Or they can structure a multi-year deal, much as they had done for WR Allen Robinson or ILB Bobby Wagner, that has a tiny salary cap footprint in 2022 but balloons in future years when the cap is expected to be raised.

If there is a will, there is always a way. For the LA Rams and CB Stephon Gilmore, this could be one helluva beautiful and long-lasting friendship.