Cap Space

  • To unlock all of features of Rams On Demand please take a brief moment to register. Registering is not only quick and easy, it also allows you access to additional features such as live chat, private messaging, and a host of other apps exclusive to Rams On Demand.

Ramhusker

Rams On Demand Sponsor
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Messages
13,672
Name
Bo Bowen
Thanks Kevin for finding this fantastic Ram Fan site. The guys who created this monster have done an amazing job as evidenced by you visiting to field our questions. I'd like to thank you and Ramsondemand. :clap:

I have a salary cap question for you. I see the Rams are near the bottom of the list as to available cap space. I know this is somewhat due to our Rams having to draft so high for the past decade. How do you plan for getting in a more favorable cap position while at the same time "remodeling" the roster to be a winner? That has to be a tall order for you and the Rams.

P.S. I too eagerly await the return of the old Blue and White uniforms! Make it happen dude!!!
 

kdemoff

UDFA
Joined
Jul 29, 2012
Messages
96
I think "cap space" can be misleading. Yes, we are one of the teams with less cap room this year than most, but we also went into the season planning to be at or near the bottom in cap space in order to preserve future cap space.

I know many fans ask why we haven't restructured contracts to free up more "cap space" and the answer is simple -- we don't need any more in 2012. We always try to go into a season with roughly $3m of space to handle injuries and contingency plans (trades, signings, etc) and right now we are exactly at that number. When we signed Finnegan, Wells and Langford, we wrote the contracts in such a way as to take a normal salary cap hit in 2012 and not defer cap dollars into the future. This will allow us to re-sign our own players and add an impact FA or two every season.

The plan is to make sure we have as little signing bonus allocation as possible moving forward to give us greater roster flexbility. The salary cap is like a credit card, you can either pay it off as you go or you can make the minimum payments knowing you will have to pay in the future. We plan to pay it off as we go. We want to extend our key players and add quality free agents but always with an eye to the future. We are fortunate to have a number of young players under the new rookie salary system with multiple first rounders to come. We want to make sure we have adequate cap space in 2015 and beyond to pay those players as well. By the end of 2014, we will have 12 first or second rounders on the roster under the new rookie system and they will all start coming up for contracts, and we want to have the ability to keep that nucleus together. That's why we will try to absorb as much of the salary cap charges as possible for the current roster.