2022 NFL deals for players could have ripple effect on LA Rams roster

In the grand scheme of things, there are three separate but interrelated choke points for any given team. Yes, the LA Rams are subjected to all three. There is of course the number of players that each NFL team can have on their respective roster. That limits offseason rosters to 90 players, and in-season active rosters to the 53-man roster.

Well, more or less. More as teams can activate two players for NFL games per week. Less because only 46 players can suit up each week for an NFL game. Yeah, it’s a bit complicated. Roster talk can get a bit too involved for this particular topic. We’ll get back to it, I promise. For now? Let’s move on.

There are the number and value of draft picks that each team can have when selecting new rookie prospects to add to the team’s roster. Each team is allotted one pick in each round of the NFL Draft. Some teams that suffer a net loss of free agents are awarded additional draft picks, known as compensatory picks, to help offset the depletion of talent via the NFL Free Agency market.

So, we now face that salary cap serpent

Finally, there is the annual salary cap, which after a significant decrease in response to the COVID-19-related economic downturn, has bounced back to another record for the NFL teams to spend on players. Some say the LA Rams have discovered a workaround for that one. I’m not so certain that’s true.

With the NFL increasing their season to 17 games, a larger portion of all NFL revenues will be allocated directly to player compensation. And with more games, the contracts for televised broadcast rights have never been more attractive, and more expensive. The result is that the NFL and the 32 teams that comprise the National Football League have one helluva golden goose, and she’s laying more golden eggs than ever.

The net effect of the NFL salary cap annual changes have been:

Year            NFL Salary cap      Increase/(Decrease)
2017          $167,000,000
2018          $177,200,000         $10,200,000
2019          $188.200,000         $11,000,000
2020          $198.200,000         $10,000,000
2021          $182,500,000        ($15,700,000)
2022          $208,200,000         $25,700,000

That increase from 2021 to 2022 amounts to nearly a 15 percent increase from the 2021 NFL salary cap, and that money had to be spent somewhere. For teams like the LA Rams, a team that has its money working in the active roster each year, the increase merely allowed the team a bit of relief from the annual jigsaw puzzle of trying to fit well-paid players under the NFL salary ceiling each year.  But what of other NFL teams?