We can extend Stafford, cut a crapload of money from the cap, and still pay him well. It'll just be about allocating the money in the right spots. But yeah, if he wants $40+ million per year, that'll hurt. We'll have to get very creative there.
I read or heard around the time of the trade that a top tier contract wasn’t something he felt he needed.
Jones reminds me a lot of Littleton.... a little shorter and a little lighter.
The difference in the two was you could see Littleton avoid contact even with runners in the hole at times. He was a chase guy and that hasn't changed.
Rams in solid salary cap shape to make a run at a repeat in 2022
Posted by Michael David Smith on February 15, 2022
View attachment 52319
Rams in solid salary cap shape to make a run at a repeat in 2022
At first blush, the Rams would appear to be heading into the 2022 season in rough salary cap shape, with current contracts that put them over the 2022 cap before they sign a single free agent.profootballtalk.nbcsports.com
At first blush, the Rams would appear to be heading into the 2022 season in rough salary cap shape, with current contracts that put them over the 2022 cap before they sign a single free agent. But in reality, the Rams can easily get under the cap for the upcoming season, without cutting anyone.
The Rams could create more than $70 million in cap space with simple restructures, via OverTheCap.com. That means they can take players’ current 2022 base salaries, which hit the entire 2022 salary cap, and convert most of that money into signing bonuses, with cap hits that are spread out equally over all the remaining years of the players’ contracts.
The Rams have several players who have big 2022 salaries that can be converted into signing bonuses: Just six players (Matthew Stafford, Jalen Ramsey, Cooper Kupp, Leonard Floyd, Robert Woods and Aaron Donald) have deals that could be restructured to create more than $60 million in cap space.
And while the Rams do have a lot of expensive players under contract in 2022, that’s a good thing, as it shows that they’re not at risk of losing many key players in free agency. Von Miller is the top player from the Super Bowl roster who will become a free agent next month, and the Rams can certainly create enough cap space to pay Miller to re-sign.
The biggest loss for the 2022 Rams may be Odell Beckham Jr., who tore his ACL in the Super Bowl. Beckham is a free agent, but whether he re-signs with the Rams or not, there’s a good chance he’ll miss the entire 2022 regular season because of his knee.
In the long term, the Rams may have some trouble sustaining their roster, given that they traded away their next two first-round draft picks for Stafford and traded away this year’s second- and third-round picks for Miller. And if Donald retires, that would be a huge loss for their roster. But as far as the salary cap is concerned, the Rams are in fine shape.
I think Jones will be a lot better than Litteton bro. He just looks more explosive and physical and has a much higher upside. He's a great blitzer as well from the ILB, when was the last time we had that?? For a rookie to make the impact he did this year while fighting injury was very impressive. One thing Raheem did in the 2nd half he was reluctant to do initially was start bringing 5 rushers. Same thing Staley did last year in all big pass situations to make sure AD got his 1-on-1. What we've been able to do is have Jones on the field to use as that 5th rusher who has an ability to drop and play coverage if need be. We were widening out our DL a lot to let Jones sit in the A-gap and occupy the center to keep him from sliding to AD. Morris really stepped his shit up in the playoffs for real. But Jones' sideline to sideline speed is great and he was all over the field Sunday. He played an excellent SB.
Yeah there was a reason why Littleton was allowed to leave in FA, and it was because he was a safety masquerading as a LB. Jones is a real LB. He's already a far better ILB than Littleton ever was just by being aggressive and willing.
profootballtalk.nbcsports.com
I would not pay that for a guy who is going to be in rehab the entire year. At a minimum I’d get him on a 2 year deal at vet minimum with incentives for if he plays. Otherwise let him walk and someone else can pay him to rehab.
He's got 1 pay day left in him, was going to be this contract. I hear you on the 1 year deal, my estimation is probably a bit steep. A 1 year prove it deal has to be at least 5 mill + incentives. The only FA who sign vet minimum deals are typically those who got cut while getting guaranteed money from previous contract (like OBJ last year) or some mid season flyer like Adrian Peterson
You can always manipulate the cap it's just pushing the can down the road so to speak. It would be nice if you didn't have to but we made some contract mistakes and have to do these kind of things occasionally.
