Insight to Rams Approach in FA This Year

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Boston Ram

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http://www.turfshowtimes.com/2016/3...6-nfl-free-agency-demoff-says-rams-are-crappy

Los Angeles Rams: Hesitancy in Free Agency a Result Of Being “Really Crappy” In It, Says Demoff
By Brandon Bate

@NoPlanB_ on Mar 13, 2016, 7:53a 261

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Los Angeles Rams’ COO Kevin Demoff was recently at his former high school, Harvard-Westlake School, giving what was, essentially, the same presentation on the Inglewood project that he'd provided at the NFL Owners meetings.

The majority of the presentation, which lasted an hour and 26 minutes, was simply Demoff speaking on the how the project came to be, the stadium and it’s amenities, and what’s in store for the team until it’s built.

The last few moments [starting at the 58:00 mark] were a Q&A with the audience, and the questions were not relegated to their move to Los Angeles or the stadium.

Demoff spoke openly about the Rams’ approach to free agency this year, and provided some insight on why they’ve not been so active in the early goings:

What Was The Plan To Spend $60 mil?
We have a lot of free agents of our own that we’re trying to re-sign. We always planned - when we started this process - that with the youngest team in the NFL, when it came up for contracts, we wanted to be able to re-sign all our own. So of our $60M, almost all of it is earmarked for our own guys.


What About Next Year?
[And then] starting to re-sign Tavon Austin and Michael Brockers. Aaron Donald, when he comes up, is not going to be cheap, and I don’t even have to preface that by saying it. He knows it, I know it. We all know it. Really, most of our money, because we have $60M this year...right now we’re scheduled to have about $75M next year, all of it is so we can re-sign our own guys, and keep drafting and developing and moving forward.

Why So Quiet In Free Agency This Year?
I will say, we’ve been really crappy in free agency. I’ve written a lot of bad deals. We just haven’t found a lot of success in free agency. And so I think there’s a buyer beware in all of that, in terms of going out and buying other people’s players, that we just haven’t figured out.

When Might The Rams Start Making Move in Free Agency?
When you get in the second wave, and I’ll say the one thing at the Combine last week, the number of agents that came up to us and said ‘my guy really wants to play in Los Angeles,’ and it was a player we’d never considered, we plan to take full advantage of that. Once the first wave kind of starts, players who are looking for a home who want to be here, we’ll be aggressive in going after them and trying to get them come. But in terms of other free agents, I wouldn’t expect a ton from us.


Any Interest In A Free Agent Quarterback?
My favorite free agent quarterback is Case Keenum.
 

DaveFan'51

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I hope the two FA's we've lost are the only ones we lose!
 

BonifayRam

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I hope the two FA's we've lost are the only ones we lose!
I only really care about one Ram UFA currently.....that's FB Cory Harkey the rest can leave if they want too. Otherwise lets move on to possible fill the HOLES like @ TE & WR. Looks like a UFA vet. RB should be in order here if Mason departs & they cut bad boys Mason & Watts.
 

Rams43

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I only really care about one Ram UFA currently.....that's FB Cory Harkey the rest can leave if they want too. Otherwise lets move on to possible fill the HOLES like @ TE & WR. Looks like a UFA vet. RB should be in order here if Mason departs & they cut bad boys Mason & Watts.

Well, I know that Cunningham is a RFA, rather than a UFA, Bonifay.

But I sure want him back, too.

Harkey, Hayes, and Cunningham are exactly the type of "glue" players that are found on playoff teams.
 

woofwoofmo

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Interesting qoute out of Peter King's "MMQB" today. That's an almost 17% difference. Gotta think that's going to negatively impact some decisions. Highest state income tax vs no tax.


Malik Jackson received
$42M Guaranteed from #Jaguars

A #California Team would have had to pay $49.1M to match the same Net after tax #

— Robert Raiola, CPA (@SportsTaxMan)March 9, 2016
 

BonifayRam

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Well, I know that Cunningham is a RFA, rather than a UFA, Bonifay.But I sure want him back, too. Harkey, Hayes, and Cunningham are exactly the type of "glue" players that are found on playoff teams.
You of course did notice I left out Benny's name :)in my UFA statement;)

Lucky Benny here because after Mason-Watts events he will get a nice contract!