Rich Eisen: LA Rams recent deals pressure the 49ers to follow suit

Rich Eisen sees the big picture

NFL Insider Rich Eisen gets what the LA Rams are truly up to. While he opens up the sheer magnanimous financial impact of the team’s contract for Aaron Donald. The team’s willingness to shred the former deal and stuff the pockets of Aaron Donald with cash seems short-sighted at a quick glance.

The NFL is a competitive sport in all aspects. The LA Rams front office understands that and is embracing its position as the pace care for the rest of the league. But as the pace car, all players in the NFL watch what the Rams are doing, and take notes.

Even as other teams try to copy the LA Rams tactics, they will struggle to do so, because they have failed to emulate the overall strategy. The LA Rams do not just acquire stars. The Rams organization nestles game-changers into a foundation of young men who are eager to become the next generation of NFL stars.

So as the Miami Dolphins acquire WR Tyreke Hill, the Denver Broncos acquire QB Russell Wilson, and the Philadelphia Eagles acquire WR A.J. Brown in LA Rams like blockbuster trade fashion, their respective NFL organizations are not set up to surround them with the other necessary elite talent to win it all.

Can the 49ers keep up?

But there is a far more sinister and strategic reason for the LA Rams to set the standard for their players. NFC West rival, the San Francisco 49ers, must now enter contract negotiations for WR Deebo Samuel this year, and edge rusher Nick Bosa next year. They cannot help but see what the LA Rams are doing and declare ‘our turn’ to the 49ers front office.

But the 49ers are not set up the same way the LA Rams are. They are paying top dollar for players all over the roster, so much so that they are not in the same position to cut massive checks for their stars. Even as NFL pundits ask ‘How can the LA Rams be doing this?’, the real question to ask is this:

How can any other NFL team hope to keep pace?