3 former Rams who won’t live up to their new contracts

To say that players who left the LA Rams to test their value in the 2024 NFL Free Agency market met with a lukewarm reception is an extreme understatement. The NFL had rolled out the red carpet and made some former Rams players very wealthy in the past. But over time, those players failed to live up to high expectations and lucrative contracts.

Now, the players who sign with new teams must be prepared to prove themselves all over again. Sometime, they can do that and earn a new contract. Sometimes they cannot, and find themselves back in the veteran free agency market, hoping to find a new team, the right team, that can allow them to earn the respect that they believe that they deserve.

The LA Rams are not the type of team that simply shoves an untested and unprepared rookie onto the football field in some professional sports version of sink or swim. Players who take the field hare fully prepared and vetted by coaches. To stay there, they must demonstrate lessons learned in training camp and on the practice field on each play.

While it's simply human nature to slip occasionally, it's not going to cut it for the Rams roster. To play on this team, players must put their mastery of whiteboard concepts and drilled-in techniques on display. If they do? They stay on the football field. If they don't? It's back to the bench.

It's hard to say that Rams players who sign on the low end of the NFL pay scale won't live up to their contracts, but they are taking up more than salary cap space. Ideally, each Rams veteran player will earn a roster spot and live snaps during games as well. Teams invest money, coaching, and opportunity into all players.