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

There is no deadline for adding players. For the LA Rams, that's good news. While the 2023 NFL Free Agency Market has just opened, the Rams are already lagging well behind other NFL teams when it comes to building their new rosters. In fact, we are now officially in the 2023 NFL season, and the LA Rams are the only team who have fewer than half of their 90-man rosters under contract.

In fact, as of 3:00 pm PT on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, the LA Rams only have 44 players under contract, and with just 44 players the Rams have $8 million in available salary cap space. I hate to share the bad news, but even if the LA Rams commit to adding 46 players to minimal contracts, the first seven players to be added will cost the Rams over $8 million, and the team will be in violation of the 2023 NFL salary cap limitations.

Per Spotrac.com, the Rams' 44 players are the fewest number of players under contract in the entire league., The runner-up teams are the Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs with 51 players. Ironically, the Chiefs at 51 players have nearly as much free salary cap space as the Rams with 44 players. And per league rules, the off-season NFL team payroll is calculated by the Top-51 players.

Houston, we have a problem

That all translates into some very glum news for LA Rams fans. Unlike every other NFL team, every player added to the Rams roster from now until the Rams reach that 51-player threshold is going to add payroll dollars to the Rams roster that will instantly count against the salary cap.

The Rams did not want to cut eight players from their Reserve/Future contracts. The Rams had to do so, or risk exceeding the financial ceiling that went into effect at the start of the new 2023 NFL season. Right now, even at 44 players on the roster, the Rams have just $8 million. and they free up more space? Yes. But with the LA Rams looking more and more like a total rebuild team, how many of their remaining veterans are going to be willing to restructure their contracts knowing that the future is now far more uncertain?

The LA Rams are not in great financial shape at the moment. In fact. the Rams made it under the wire by freeing up $9 million in salary cap space by restructuring the contract for offensive lineman Joe Noteboom, but the Rams only have $8 million is available salary cap space for now. That means that without Noteboom's cooperation, the Rams would have been in a desperate situation. Even with his help, the Rams do not appear to be any better than a bad situation.

No tenders? No money

The LA Rams are nearly broke for the time being. I'm a bit confused about that. The Rams, without sufficient capital to sign players, are playing a dangerous game of NFL Free Agency chicken. Is there a plan in place? Of course, and the Rams have never failed to impress on that front in the past. But the team made it a point to up the compensation for players in 2022, decisions that have come at a huge price.

The Rams managed to extend tender offers to Michael Hoecht, Shaun Jolly, and Christian Rozeboom. But the deadline for extending tenders has come and gone. The Rams did not tender backup QB Bryce Perkins:

In fact, the LA Rams did not offer extentions to:

• QB John Wolford
• OL Chandler Brewer
• DL Marquise Copeland
• OL David Edwards
• QB Bryce Perkins
• S/LB Jake Gervase (ERFA)
• TE/WR Jacob Harris (ERFA)
• CB Grant Haley (ERFA)

Let's be clear. If the Rams had the available funds, they most certainly would have brought back Copeland, Perkins, Gervase, Harris, Brewer, and Haley. They may yet. But the Rams have to find the funds to do so.

Rams late wave of releases makes sense now

And the Rams released the following minimally compensated players after signing them to Reserve/Futures contracts:

• TE Rodger Carter
• TE Jarred Pinkney
• DB T.J. Carter
• OLB Braydon Thomas
• WR J.J. Koski
• WR Jaquarii Roberson
• WR Jarreth Sterns
• OL Max Pircher 

These were players just signed to Reserve/Future contracts less than two months ago. Their release was not about potential or performance. The LA Rams simply needed the cap space.

And with all of these moves, the Rams have just $8 million in available salary cap payroll dollars to spend. The reason for the Rams' sudden financial stress is that the team, by parting ways with a number of significantly compensated players, has ballooned their 2023 dead cap from just under $5 million to over $43 million.

That dead cap number will get worse.

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.