No cap crisis for Rams--JLau Has $4Mil Cap Charge in 2015 : PD

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RamBill

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No cap crisis for Rams
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_0b0b91b6-b06c-54c5-95e2-1f0c2243c432.html

After considerable hand-wringing and anxiety among Rams fans and some media observers this offseason, the Rams salary cap situation isn’t nearly as dire as some had feared.

According to figures filed with the NFL Players Association, the Rams are about $6½ million below the salary cap figure based on an offseason roster that includes 57 players either under contract or tendered as exclusive-rights free agents.

But when free agency starts next Tuesday, each team must count only its 51 highest-paid players against the cap. So that raises the Rams’ cap room to about $9½ million — more than enough space to get things started in the offseason.

Before all is said and done additional cap room could be created by releasing veteran players, with cornerback Cortland Finnegan and offensive guard Harvey Dahl the most likely casualties. Both veterans are due signing bonuses by the end of next week, which will force a decision to be made by then. Cutting both players would create at least $8 million in additional cap space.

Even if those cap cuts are made, there will still be plenty of other teams around the NFL with more cap room than the Rams. But the Rams should have enough money to sign their draft picks, re-sign offensive lineman Rodger Saffold, and maybe make one splash in free agency.

The current Rams regime of executive vice president Kevin Demoff, general manager Les Snead, and coach Jeff Fisher anticipated that this would be a relative tight year cap-wise. And at least in part, it’s by design.

“The plan is always to evaluate fits, and how players can help improve your roster, and what makes the most sense,” Demoff said. “I think this time, you’re a year closer to 2015, and all the contract expirations we have coming up after the 2015 season.”

A little-known wrinkle of the collective bargaining agreement in 2011 is that contracts of draft picks can’t be renegotiated until the player has completed three seasons in the NFL. So 2014 is the first year the Rams can renegotiate with their draft class of 2011, which includes defensive end Robert Quinn, tight end Lance Kendricks, and wide receiver Austin Pettis.

(And in the case of Quinn, the Rams have an option for a fifth year, which would keep him off the market until after the 2015 season.)

But the floodgates start to open after the 2015 season in terms of expiring contracts, in part because of the mother lode of extra draft picks from the 2012 “RGIII trade.”

“Most of our current young players are locked into deals that can’t be renegotiated (at this time),” Demoff said “We’re very fortunate that we have very few contracts up after 2014. That gives us really a two-year horizon to start planning in looking at our salary cap situation.

“The focus at some point has to shift to make sure we retain our talent, rather than on adding new talent (through free agency).”

So the goal in the past couple of years was to avoid back-loaded contracts, and in some cases pay more money in the early years of contracts.

Two of the biggest examples of that came in the contract extensions of defensive end Chris Long and linebacker James Laurinaitis prior to the start of the 2012 regular season. In the case of Long, he counts $13.2 million against the cap in 2014, but only $10 million in 2015. Laurinaitis counts $10.4 million against the cap in 2014, but only $4 million in 2015.

So between the two of them, that’s $9.6 million of additional cap room in 2015 (as compared to 2014), to re-sign recent draft picks whose contract are about to expire.


“So there is a design to this,” Demoff said. “And we’ve also shifted philosophies really to a lower signing bonus, a pay-as-you-go mentality, which I think has been effective.”

That approach has helped the Rams avoid getting buried in dead money — money already paid to a player — that still counts against the cap after he’s released or traded. There were times years ago, when the Rams had millions of dead money counting against the cap.

As for this year?

“Right now I think we’re 31st in the league in dead money for 2014,” Demoff said. “I think we have $133,000.”

As recently as 2009, the Rams had the dubious distinction of leading the league in dead money.

“I think where people sometimes look at our salary cap situation — and I don’t want to say get confused,” Demoff said. “But just because we’re tighter against the cap than a team, doesn’t mean we don’t have flexibility. All of our contracts are designed for extreme salary cap flexibility. Sometimes we use it; sometimes we don’t.”
 

RamBill

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  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
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So between Long and J Lau they'll save $9.6 million for 2015. Add in the expected $7 million increase in the cap and the Rams will have $16.7 million more in cap space than they would of had for 2015.

Also, Rams are now 31st in the league in dead money after leading the league in 2009?

We're in good hands with Demoff.
icon_biggrin.gif
 

jrry32

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Yep, he's great at what he does. A lot of people questioned the way our contracts were structured but he's had a plan for it clearly.

Good to see we're low on dead money...getting Jason Smith's albatross off the books definitely helps.
 

laramsoriginal

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Financial responsibility. Amazing job.

If the young players produce, rams will have to spend big bucks in 2015-16
 

Alan

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The future is looking so bright I might have to buy some cool looking shades.
 

LesBaker

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Yep, he's great at what he does. A lot of people questioned the way our contracts were structured but he's had a plan for it clearly.

Good to see we're low on dead money...getting Jason Smith's albatross off the books definitely helps.

I agree he is outstanding. The pay as you go approach is the best way to go with the new rookie scale in place. It really gives these guys the ability to get a player the money it takes without back loading the deal or coughing up huge signing or roster bonuses and he and the Rams are taking advantage of this.
 

Faceplant

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Demoff ain't no dummy. Pay as you go makes plenty of sense. If players don't produce, the Rams will get "Demoff" the payroll.

See what I did there?
 
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Username

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Between this and the PR job he does KD deserves a raise. Good post. We all know how good Kevin is when it comes to this stuff. Never get tired reading about it.
 

Angry Ram

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Only the morons on ramstalk even care about the cap this much.

Kevin Demoff took a team dead last in dead money and was still able to sign/resign guys they've wanted. It's a non-issue for me.
 

fearsomefour

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In Demoff we trust!!

Now, you think he would be willing to have a sit down with policy makers in DC and explain how this works?
 

rhinobean

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In Demoff we trust!!

Now, you think he would be willing to have a sit down with policy makers in DC and explain how this works?
It's not their money and it seems the policy makers only pay attention to who's got the money in the envelope for them!!!!!!
 

mr.stlouis

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That's how you start to turn the corner. Love the direction this team is headed.