Houston, we have a problem. Did the LA Rams paint themselves into a currency corner?

Rams simply haven't the cap space (for now)

Right now, the LA Rams 2023 rookie draft class is projected to cost the Rams more than they have money to spend. That's right, the Rams have $8 million available, and the rookies cost $8.3 million. That presumes that the Rams sign no free agents in the meantime.

The Rams still have some aces up their sleeve. Since Bobby Wagner is a post-June 1 designated release, he will ultimately restore another $8 million in available salary cap space. In the process, the Rams roster falls to 43, meaning another player signed will directly impact available cap space. And depending how the team resolves the impasse with WR Allen Robinson, the team could generate up to $6.85 million with a trade.

Temporary challenge

No, the sky is not falling. No, the Rams are not going to just roll up into the fetal position and become powerless. But until the Rams make significant improvements to their financial situation, this team is too broke to make moves in free agency. So broke that the team nickeled and dime their way to clear cap space. It wasn't that they were bad players. It comes down to the fact that until the Rams negotiate cap relief elsewhere, the team's margins were too thin to keep them on the payroll.

How will the LA Rams pay for it all is a question that got chortles and chuckles when the team signed FAs WR Allen Robinson and ILB Bobby Wagner. Now we see how. The kick-the-can financing is halting temporarily, and the Rams are digging for coins in the seat cushions and under the laundromat washers to get and stay under the cap right now.

LA Rams GM Les Snead is a master at his craft. He has fed the multitudes with a handful of fishes and loaves to restock the Rams roster in each of the past six seasons. But Snead knows that the Rams have got to refill the reservoir. That means that the Rams will have to go leaner than usual in terms of roster building.

It is what it is. For now, the Rams are bargain shoppers only. When will that change is not the question in my mind. If that will change most certainly is.