The hook is that Denver was desperate for linebackers. You'd think it would be worth a little more to them than a 2024 late round draft position swap. That's nearly akin to them giving the Rams nothing. But, I guess it depends on how badly Snead needed to dump that contract. But not even a swap of 6th and 7th this year? How many 6th and 7th round picks ever make the roster of the team that drafts them. I think that is why the trade is so hard for fans to accept at face value.
I believe that dumping Young's contract was the primary goal, of course that likely doesn't come about if they didn't consider Ernest Jones ready for prime time.
Immediately following the Young trade our CAP availability was in the $4.mil range. Restructuring Havenstein even created more funds. Acquiring Von Miller didn't affect CAP as Denver agreed to pick up his tab. Today, our CAP is already down to $2.9 mil. even with the gains we made from moving Young, and this is because of the way McVay manages his Practice Squad roster. Injuries have caused several substitutions, and when practice squad players are moved up, the league requires they be paid the 53 roster minimum per game which is a sharp rise from practice squad pay, and should they be moved up for more than 3 games, it becomes a permanent increase for the entire season. Blanton, Brooks, Copeland, Double D, Hall, Howell, Koski, Rozeboom, Hawkins and probably a couple of others who I've missed have all caused unexpected extra CAP costs, and we are only half way thru the season. McVay/Demoff were basically doing their due CAP diligence by moving Young, and hopefully this leaves our shrinking CAP enough room to get us thru the season as we may not wish to repeat the process in order to come up with more funding.
jmo.