Early LA Rams roster moves reveal shrewd salary cap strategy taking shape

Making the most out of a limited annual salary cap is something that Los Angeles Rams GM Les Snead has mastered. But even with an ever-increasing NFL salary cap, the Rams wizard of roster upgrades has a bag of tricks that allows the front office to optimize the Rams restocking of talent for a new NFL season. Of course, cash is king, so perhaps that is where we need to begin this article. How much is the 2025 NFL salary cap? The number has been set at $279.2 million per club.

How has that salary ceiling increased over the years? Not surprisingly, it's nearly a 10 percent increase over the 2024 salary cap. And since 2022, the cap has increased by nearly $55 million. That's quite a jump.

Of course, in the world of finances and investments, it's not how much money you start with, but rather how well you invest it. Perhaps it was all the years of constructing a top-heavy roster that left little to pay the largest number of players? Perhaps it was the lessons learned from overpaying some players, only to be stuck with the albatross of dead cap space after the players were traded or released.

The Rams have run an oscillating back and forth operation of cutting players to find new cap savings, only to use those savings to pay a new group of overachieving players until they too found themselves falling short of their compensation. Wash, rinse, and repeat. It was a vicious circle of the Rams left holding the bag to dead cap space.

Expensive experiences teach valuable lessons.

However the team got to this point, the results are both positive and a distinct advantate. How so? Let's explore how the Rams structured the first extension for 2025, and why this strategy not only kept a key player on the Rams roster, but did so at an amazingly team-friendly deal: