Updated LA Rams cap space, FAs, and draft picks for 2025 offseason

With the arrival of the NFL franchise tag season and the significant upward movement of the 2025 NFL salary cap, The LA Rams are turning the corner on what was and must clock in and start the pots cooking in the kitchen over what will be. For some fans, this is the most uncomfortable part of the entire NFL season. After all, the team is not about carrying everyone from one year ago forward.

We've already learned that hard lesson from the news that the team is prepared to move on from WR Cooper Kupp. That news immediately precipitated the question: Exactly what are the chances of keeping QB Matthew Stafford around with his friend and favorite target no longer on the team? The dominoes have already started to fall, so it's too late to deny changes are coming. The question now is: How far and wide will changes impact the team?

Ah, welcome to square one. Just like the Go! spot on the rather antiquated Monopoly board game, the Rams are about to race off, trading, signing, and drafting players who they hope and believe will make this team postseason-worthy. Do the Rams have challenges to overcome? Absolutely. But they've done so in the past.

The Rams earned a playoff berth in 2023 after taking a huge hit in the salary cap from divesting so many top-tier players. The team likewise earned a playoff berth in 2024 after the retirement of DT Aaron Donald. At this point in time of the offseason, neither outcomes seemed likely. So, take heart in the knowledge, Rams fans, that this team knows what it's doing.

So what do the Rams have in terms of construction materials for the new roster?

Rams cap space for 2025

It almost feels surreal to acknowledge that the LA Rams are indeed 'flush with cash,' as compared to the team's financial status since HC Sean McVay joined forces with GM Les Snead. Having successfully earned that Super Bowl LVI ring for passionate All-Pro DT Aaron Donald during his career, the team has not been as quick to burn though financial resources of tomorrow to find elite players today.

And the latest news just made everything feel better:

Let's take a look at the LA Rams currently project salary cap space for 2025. Per Overthecap.com, the Rams are looking at salary cap space of $44,371,906 for 2025. To get there, the capologists at OTC defaulted the NFL cap at $279.5 million. If the number is closer to the ceiling, the Rams' available spending will increase as well.

Of course it won't stop there. The team can magnify that number rather quickly, and may already be taking the steps to do so. The team's future relationship with several players is in question, and if released with a pre-June 1 designation, can pour more gold back into the vault. I'll cover how much the team can reclaim in terms of salary cap space by parting ways with the following players:

• WR Cooper Kupp
• QB Matthew Stafford
• IOL Jonah Jackson
• TE Colby Parkinson
• TE Tyler Higbee

Of course, there is more to consider than rote money alone. But parting ways with these five veterans in a worst case scenario of a pre-June 1 release could reclaim more than $17 million for the team. With the news of the team expecting to trade (or release) veteran wide receiver Cooper Kupp, the team is more than likely to get a jump on salary cap space by getting off the hook of the team's $7.5 million roster bonus due to Kupp in mid-March 2025.

The Rams will have enough money to make significant moves this offseason, if that is the plan.

Rams draft picks for 2025

The LA Rams maneuvered a trade up in Round 2 of the 2024 NFL Draft to acquire Florida State defensive tackle Braden Fiske, but at the cost of a 2025 Round 2 pick. And so it comes to the LA Rams arsenal of draft picks in this year's draft, you will note the glaring absence of that Round 2 pick. As luck would have it, many view Day 2 as the meat of this draft, so the team may be motivated to trade for additional picks, particularly with the goal in mind of replacing that Round 2 selection.

The team enters the 2025 NFL Draft armed with seven picks. They are:

• Round 1
• Round 3
• Round 3 (comp pick)
• Round 4
• Round 6
• Round 6 (via Falcons)
• Round 6 (via Steelers)

• The Round 2 pick was traded to the Carolina Panthers to move up for DT Braden Fiske
• The Round 3 compensatory pick was awarded to the Rams as part of the Atlanta Falcons hiring DC Raheem Morris as their head coach.
• The Round 5 pick was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers in return for their Round 6 pick and IOL Kevin Dotson
• The Round 7 pick was traded to the Atlanta Falcons with WR Van Jefferson for the Atlanta Falcons Round 6 pick

Keep in mind that while you may expect the Rams to target early picks, the Rams front office often surprises everyone by landing a huge playmaker on Day 3. I would not be too alarmed over the team's ability to trade up for 'the' guy as much as focusing on whether or not the team can find appropriate trade partners to choreograph their NFL draft maneuvering.

Rams list of scheduled free agents for 2025

The Rams front office purged the team of high-cost name-recognizable players at the end of the 2023 NFL season. As a result, the team has not exactly been the epicenter of free agents for other teams to target after their contracts have expired. But that could change in 2025 if the team is unable to come to favorable terms with a number of players. They are:

Unrestricted free agents:

• LT Alaric Jackson
• NT Bobby Brown III
• QB Jimmy Garoppolo
• DB John Johnson III
• DB Ahkello Witherspoon
• DE Larrell Murchison
• OLB/DT Michael Hoecht
• WR Demarcus Robinson
• WR Tutu Atwell
• WR Tyler Johnson
• NT Neville Gallimore
• Swing tackle Joe Noteboom
• LB Christian Rozeboom
• LB Troy Reeder
• TE Hunter Long
• IOL Conor McDermott

Exclusive rights free agents:

• C Dylan McMahon

Restricted free agents:

• RB Ronnie Rivers
• LB Jake Hummel

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