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It’s going to be tough. I wouldn’t trade Woods. He’s the best and toughest WR they have
[theathletic.com]
Which under-30 players might the Rams have to drop for salary-cap purposes?
By Vinny Bonsignore and Rich Hammond May 31, 2019
These are good times for the Rams, who have stability and a talented roster that figures to put them in Super Bowl contention again in 2019. But every team has issues. So each week, Vinny Bonsignore and Rich Hammond will discuss and debate the Rams’ biggest current questions. Here are the topics to date.
The clock is ticking. Jared Goff is going to need a new contract. The Rams delayed the inevitable in April when they picked up the fifth-year option on Goff’s rookie deal, for the 2020 season, and technically they could stall further by franchise-tagging Goff for a year or two. Eventually, though, ink must hit paper.
Given his current trajectory as one of the NFL’s top under-30 quarterbacks, Goff figures to join the nine current quarterbacks who earn an average salary of $25 million or more. That’s unless you’re one of the folks who thinks the Rams are going to let Goff walk away and draft his replacement, but Vinny certainly doesn’t think that’s going to happen.
The Rams’ cap crunch actually starts in 2020, when Goff’s option kicks in and ups his salary to $22 million, a raise of almost $14 million. The cap figures of stars such as Aaron Donald and Todd Gurley also jump. (And for those who might wonder, Gurley’s contract includes a ton of dead-cap money through 2021.)
The Rams will be able to mitigate some of that with the (likely) retirement of Andrew Whitworth, who has a cap hit of $16.7 million this season. Other veterans (Aqib Talib, Eric Weddle, etc.) also are unlikely to stay for the long term, and the salary cap should continue to rise. But according to OverTheCap.com, the Rams already have almost $147.5 million committed to players in 2020, with several potential holes to fill.
Tough decisions are ahead in the next year or two, so here’s the question: Which three players under age 30 are most likely not to be part of the long-term plans?
Rich Hammond
Dante Fowler: Let’s start with the good news. I think it’s possible the Rams could retain starters such as Michael Brockers (undervalued by playing with Aaron Donald), Cory Littleton (name not big enough to command big money) and Nickell Robey-Coleman (hometown discount), and I consider it imperative that they re-sign budding young stars such as John Johnson and Cooper Kupp. That narrows the options.
Fowler, quite possibly, is going to play his way out of L.A. He did the smart thing by re-signing with the Rams in March on a one-year deal that could earn him as much as $14 million. He played well in spurts last season and is a prime breakout candidate in 2019 in his first full year in the Rams’ system. A good season will earn him a big multi-year contract, and the Rams won’t be able to afford him.
Robert Woods: This one is going to cause the most teeth-gnashing, but it might have to happen. Woods is under contract for 2021, with a cap hit of $9.1 million that season. By then, Brandin Cooks will have a whopping cap hit of $16.8 million and the Rams will have re-upped Kupp, whose deal ends after 2020.
Woods has been extraordinary for the Rams, and probably will never get the amount of credit he deserves for his role in transforming the offense in 2017. This would purely be a cap-casualty thing. Woods turns 28 before the start of the 2020 season, and a possible play here might be to trade him — while he still has strong value — and attempt to draft a younger, long-term replacement.
Marcus Peters: This week, Vinny wrote about how the Rams need to figure out what to do with Peters, whose contract expires after next season. I just don’t see a great fit here, certainly not for the type of money Peters might command on the free-agent market. I think the Rams also see it. This feels similar to Trumaine Johnson in 2017, when the Rams made noises that indicated they were interested in re-signing Johnson for the long term, but ultimately let him leave as a free agent (he signed with the Jets).
Peters had had his impressive moments, for sure, and last year when Talib was healthy and the Rams adjusted to more zone concepts, Peters did quite well. A top cornerback should be able to thrive in any scheme, though, and shouldn’t need a ton of help. Is that Peters right now? Let another team overpay him — as the Jets did with Johnson in 2018 — and move on. The problem is, the Rams could face a 2020 season without Peters or Talib. That’s a huge issue, one the Rams might have to spend to rectify. It just never ends, does it?
Vinny Bonsignore
Marcus Peters: Peters got a bad rap last year, I felt, for some of his struggles in the first half of the season. The calf injury he suffered against the Chargers in Week 3 would have sidelined a lesser player a couple of weeks. Instead, Peters was back within four days and didn’t miss a game. But he obviously was not 100 percent, and it showed in his play. The injury, coupled with the Rams taking part of the season to figure out the best way to use him, resulted in some shaky performances. But once he got healthy and the Rams began using him in more zone coverages — more to his strengths — he settled down and played well.
I suspect that will lead to a much stronger 2019 season — the last year of his rookie deal — which could push him beyond the Rams’ price-point comfort zone, given the looming new contract for Goff and other core-type players coming up for free agency. The Rams could utilize the franchise tag — at least for one season — to keep Peters in the fold in 2020. Beyond that, it could be a problem retaining him long term.
Rob Havenstein: The Rams did well last summer to lock up their 27-year-old right tackle through the 2022 season, and at a reasonable price. The good news is, he’ll be around the next four seasons. And given how he has emerged as a steady, dependable, above-average tackle, his presence creates a tremendous comfort level.
Barring injuries, there is no reason to think Havenstein won’t still be a formidable player at the conclusion of his contract. And at age 31 at that point, he likely would be a very attractive commodity on the open market. It’s still a ways away, but you can already envision the Rams having to make the difficult decision to let Havenstein leave as a free agent.
Austin Blythe: The Rams found great value off the scrap heap in 2017 when they scooped Blythe off waivers from the Indianapolis Colts. Under the tutelage of Rams offensive line coach Aaron Kromer, he surprisingly beat out Jamon Brown for the right guard position last year.
Blythe exceeded all expectations as a first-year starter on one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, and it’s not unreasonable to think he’ll take another major step forward in 2019. That’s the good news. On the other hand, a big year from Blythe could price him out of the Rams’ long-range plans, given all the pending free agents they’ll be dealing with next March, not to mention having to pay Goff at some point.
[theathletic.com]
Which under-30 players might the Rams have to drop for salary-cap purposes?
By Vinny Bonsignore and Rich Hammond May 31, 2019
These are good times for the Rams, who have stability and a talented roster that figures to put them in Super Bowl contention again in 2019. But every team has issues. So each week, Vinny Bonsignore and Rich Hammond will discuss and debate the Rams’ biggest current questions. Here are the topics to date.
The clock is ticking. Jared Goff is going to need a new contract. The Rams delayed the inevitable in April when they picked up the fifth-year option on Goff’s rookie deal, for the 2020 season, and technically they could stall further by franchise-tagging Goff for a year or two. Eventually, though, ink must hit paper.
Given his current trajectory as one of the NFL’s top under-30 quarterbacks, Goff figures to join the nine current quarterbacks who earn an average salary of $25 million or more. That’s unless you’re one of the folks who thinks the Rams are going to let Goff walk away and draft his replacement, but Vinny certainly doesn’t think that’s going to happen.
The Rams’ cap crunch actually starts in 2020, when Goff’s option kicks in and ups his salary to $22 million, a raise of almost $14 million. The cap figures of stars such as Aaron Donald and Todd Gurley also jump. (And for those who might wonder, Gurley’s contract includes a ton of dead-cap money through 2021.)
The Rams will be able to mitigate some of that with the (likely) retirement of Andrew Whitworth, who has a cap hit of $16.7 million this season. Other veterans (Aqib Talib, Eric Weddle, etc.) also are unlikely to stay for the long term, and the salary cap should continue to rise. But according to OverTheCap.com, the Rams already have almost $147.5 million committed to players in 2020, with several potential holes to fill.
Tough decisions are ahead in the next year or two, so here’s the question: Which three players under age 30 are most likely not to be part of the long-term plans?
Rich Hammond
Dante Fowler: Let’s start with the good news. I think it’s possible the Rams could retain starters such as Michael Brockers (undervalued by playing with Aaron Donald), Cory Littleton (name not big enough to command big money) and Nickell Robey-Coleman (hometown discount), and I consider it imperative that they re-sign budding young stars such as John Johnson and Cooper Kupp. That narrows the options.
Fowler, quite possibly, is going to play his way out of L.A. He did the smart thing by re-signing with the Rams in March on a one-year deal that could earn him as much as $14 million. He played well in spurts last season and is a prime breakout candidate in 2019 in his first full year in the Rams’ system. A good season will earn him a big multi-year contract, and the Rams won’t be able to afford him.
Robert Woods: This one is going to cause the most teeth-gnashing, but it might have to happen. Woods is under contract for 2021, with a cap hit of $9.1 million that season. By then, Brandin Cooks will have a whopping cap hit of $16.8 million and the Rams will have re-upped Kupp, whose deal ends after 2020.
Woods has been extraordinary for the Rams, and probably will never get the amount of credit he deserves for his role in transforming the offense in 2017. This would purely be a cap-casualty thing. Woods turns 28 before the start of the 2020 season, and a possible play here might be to trade him — while he still has strong value — and attempt to draft a younger, long-term replacement.
Marcus Peters: This week, Vinny wrote about how the Rams need to figure out what to do with Peters, whose contract expires after next season. I just don’t see a great fit here, certainly not for the type of money Peters might command on the free-agent market. I think the Rams also see it. This feels similar to Trumaine Johnson in 2017, when the Rams made noises that indicated they were interested in re-signing Johnson for the long term, but ultimately let him leave as a free agent (he signed with the Jets).
Peters had had his impressive moments, for sure, and last year when Talib was healthy and the Rams adjusted to more zone concepts, Peters did quite well. A top cornerback should be able to thrive in any scheme, though, and shouldn’t need a ton of help. Is that Peters right now? Let another team overpay him — as the Jets did with Johnson in 2018 — and move on. The problem is, the Rams could face a 2020 season without Peters or Talib. That’s a huge issue, one the Rams might have to spend to rectify. It just never ends, does it?
Vinny Bonsignore
Marcus Peters: Peters got a bad rap last year, I felt, for some of his struggles in the first half of the season. The calf injury he suffered against the Chargers in Week 3 would have sidelined a lesser player a couple of weeks. Instead, Peters was back within four days and didn’t miss a game. But he obviously was not 100 percent, and it showed in his play. The injury, coupled with the Rams taking part of the season to figure out the best way to use him, resulted in some shaky performances. But once he got healthy and the Rams began using him in more zone coverages — more to his strengths — he settled down and played well.
I suspect that will lead to a much stronger 2019 season — the last year of his rookie deal — which could push him beyond the Rams’ price-point comfort zone, given the looming new contract for Goff and other core-type players coming up for free agency. The Rams could utilize the franchise tag — at least for one season — to keep Peters in the fold in 2020. Beyond that, it could be a problem retaining him long term.
Rob Havenstein: The Rams did well last summer to lock up their 27-year-old right tackle through the 2022 season, and at a reasonable price. The good news is, he’ll be around the next four seasons. And given how he has emerged as a steady, dependable, above-average tackle, his presence creates a tremendous comfort level.
Barring injuries, there is no reason to think Havenstein won’t still be a formidable player at the conclusion of his contract. And at age 31 at that point, he likely would be a very attractive commodity on the open market. It’s still a ways away, but you can already envision the Rams having to make the difficult decision to let Havenstein leave as a free agent.
Austin Blythe: The Rams found great value off the scrap heap in 2017 when they scooped Blythe off waivers from the Indianapolis Colts. Under the tutelage of Rams offensive line coach Aaron Kromer, he surprisingly beat out Jamon Brown for the right guard position last year.
Blythe exceeded all expectations as a first-year starter on one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, and it’s not unreasonable to think he’ll take another major step forward in 2019. That’s the good news. On the other hand, a big year from Blythe could price him out of the Rams’ long-range plans, given all the pending free agents they’ll be dealing with next March, not to mention having to pay Goff at some point.
