How would a Cooper Kupp trade impact the Rams' cap space?

There has been a lot of talk, lately, about the future of two key L.A. Rams players.

First and foremost, fans want to know what is going to happen with quarterback Matthew Stafford. His future seems up in the air, although there's certainly a chance he ends up sticking around.

As for wide receiver Cooper Kupp, that is a different story. For a couple of weeks, now, it's been known that the Rams have informed Kupp that they will try to trade him, thus ending his tenure in L.A. The biggest question, right now, is going to be where he ends up.

One of the larger factors at play, here, has to do with the salary cap. The league just announced it was going to increase the cap to a number between $277.5 million and $281.5 million for the 2025 season, but where do the Rams stand right now?

First, let's look at how a Kupp trade would influence the cap and then try to piece the numbers together.

How much would the Rams save against the cap by trading Cooper Kupp?

As ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano recently noted in his column, Kupp's 2025 cap number would be $29.78 million for the Rams if he were to stay. But, if the team were to trade him before a roster bonus was due on March 17, then they would save $12.52 million with the move.

The tricky part is, L.A. could wind up paying a portion of Kupp's salary for a team willing to take on his contract. So, the end numbers wouldn't exactly be known.

For simplicity's sake, let's say the Rams got a deal done and didn't pay part of his salary for the acquiring team.

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As it stands, the Rams have $41.74 million in effective cap space, per Over the Cap. If you added in the $12.52 million in savings, that brings L.A. to just over $54 million in space.

It remains to be seen just how much the Rams would have to pay of his salary in order to get a trade done, but Graziano speculated that they might only be left with a grand total of $5 million saved after the deal was done.

Is it really worth saving only $5 million and netting a draft pick or two?

Another question worth posing: do the Rams really want to move on from Stafford?

The next couple of weeks are going to tell us a lot about this team and the direction they're headed in the near future.