Les Snead has Los Angeles Rams in great position with cap space for 2019

[Akrasian]

Spotrac has him at 2 M dead money.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/los-angeles-rams/mark-barron-9817/

That's with his original signing bonus. Both spotrac and overthecap.com however show a $2 million bonus from his 2018 restructuring - for some reason Spotrac doesn't add this to his dead money - with two years left on his contract, that would make it $3.33 million. I had thought that his 2018 restructuring was a salary reduction with all of his 2018 salary guaranteed (so he wouldn't be cut) but both sites show that restructuring bonus.

https://overthecap.com/player/mark-barron/355/

Spotrac shows it in a column labelled as "Restructure" while overthecap just adds it to his prorated column.

 

[Akrasian]

Good comments! The only area where I differ is on Littleton & Fowler will not return @ a reasonable cost.

I have moved away from my early position that "Cory Littleton should be offered the highest 1st rd tender". I see it as overkill & $4.5 million too costly.

The 2nd rd tender of $3.12 mil. looks like a solid appropriate offer. Since CL made $540K in 2018 that's a good pay increase. If CL is in a big hurry to desires more $$$ then it would drive him to sign a long term contract this year for the Rams where there is more security & guaranteed $$$ involved. This is the goal in the long term anyway. Rams can always match the other teams $$$ since they still control this process. If a team were to overpay CL in their offer, then, in the end, the Rams are awarded that teams 2nd rd draft selection 2020. That would be a highly valuable team asset.

A minor correction - RFAs have to decide prior to the draft. If there's compensation, the team gets a pick that year - so the Rams would get a 2019 draft pick - i.e. score. But yes, the Rams might decide to only offer him the second round tender. Depends on how easily they feel they can replace him. I suspect they don't want to risk having another hole, even if they would get a 2nd rounder for him. While they can match the offer, teams with cap room can easily structure the deal so that matching would not be tenable for the Rams. This is less likely to happen with a first round tender, so the Rams would likely be able to plan their budget around Littleton coming back.

 

[BonifayRam]

A minor correction - RFAs have to decide prior to the draft. If there's compensation, the team gets a pick that year - so the Rams would get a 2019 draft pick - i.e. score. But yes, the Rams might decide to only offer him the second round tender. Depends on how easily they feel they can replace him. I suspect they don't want to risk having another hole, even if they would get a 2nd rounder for him. While they can match the offer, teams with cap room can easily structure the deal so that matching would not be tenable for the Rams. This is less likely to happen with a first-round tender, so the Rams would likely be able to plan their budget around Littleton coming back.

Missed that & that would make the 2nd rd tender even more attractive since the Rams do not have one. Thanks

Not really sure what the Rams really think about what CL's best inside position will be in 2019 but they did draft interior LB'ers Micah Kiser & Travin Howard last season. There's even a chance that draft 5th rd. LB'er Og Okoronkwo who is only 6-1 253 can play the interior weakside post that Mark Barron played. UFA MLB'er Bryce Hager is sure to be offered a future Ram contract due to the favor he has had with Bones the last four seasons on ST's

I think the Rams can badly use that $1 1/2 mil difference between the first rd tender & the 2nd rd tender.

 

[Akrasian]

Missed that & that would make the 2nd rd tender even more attractive since the Rams do not have one. Thanks

Not really sure what the Rams really think about what CL's best inside position will be in 2019 but they did draft interior LB'ers Micah Kiser & Travin Howard last season. There's even a chance that draft 5th rd. LB'er Og Okoronkwo who is only 6-1 253 can play the interior weakside post that Mark Barron played. UFA MLB'er Bryce Hager is sure to be offered a future Ram contract due to the favor he has had with Bones the last four seasons on ST's

I think the Rams can badly use that $1 1/2 mil difference between the first rd tender & the 2nd rd tender.

Undoubtedly they need the money. I figure there will be extensive discussions between McVay, Phillips, Fassel, and Demoff over whether they can replace Littleton realistically, how much he is worth, and whether they want to risk getting rid of what was really their only quality linebacker last year, and whether the risk is worth .8% of their cap. They may feel that some of those rookies that just didn't get playing time this past season may be worthwhile. They may figure that if he signs elsewhere, a late 2nd would be able to replace him overall. We don't know for sure - I just am skeptical about the Rams beginning the linebacker starting corps basically from scratch again.

 

[Ram65]

That's with his original signing bonus. Both spotrac and overthecap.com however show a $2 million bonus from his 2018 restructuring - for some reason Spotrac doesn't add this to his dead money - with two years left on his contract, that would make it $3.33 million. I had thought that his 2018 restructuring was a salary reduction with all of his 2018 salary guaranteed (so he wouldn't be cut) but both sites show that restructuring bonus.

https://overthecap.com/player/mark-barron/355/

Spotrac shows it in a column labelled as "Restructure" while overthecap just adds it to his prorated column.

It's very confusing as the link below states from Tom Pelissero (NFL Network) Barron took 501K pay cut to have his salary guaranteed last year. (I assume last year). Rams were up against the cap. I don't understand why the Rams would have Barron's dead money increase if they planned on releasing him in a year with his injury issues. I would like to hear from an LA reporter about Barron's contract and his Rams future soon.

https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2018/09/11/nfl-rams-mark-barron-matt-longacre-pay-cut-salary-cap/

 

[Akrasian]

@Ram65, yeah, I don't understand it either, but both of the main resources we have for NFL contracts have that money listed, though in somewhat different spots. Weird. In either case, I suspect Barron is gone unless Wade REALLY likes him, and they're convinced he'll be fully healthy finally.

 

[Merlin]

I have moved away from my early position that "Cory Littleton should be offered the highest 1st rd tender". I see it as overkill & $4.5 million too costly.

The 2nd rd tender of $3.12 mil. looks like a solid appropriate offer.

If the Rams tender Littleton for anything less than round 1 he will be signed away. Then we'll have two ILB needs instead of one.

It's going to be interesting to see what the Rams do. I'd tender him at the highest level just to ensure I don't have to match a stupid contract offer from a team like the whiners.

 

[Ram65]

Good comments! The only area where I differ is on Littleton & Fowler will not return @ a reasonable cost.

I have moved away from my early position that "Cory Littleton should be offered the highest 1st rd tender". I see it as overkill & $4.5 million too costly.

The 2nd rd tender of $3.12 mil. looks like a solid appropriate offer. Since CL made $540K in 2018 that's a good pay increase. If CL is in a big hurry to desires more $$$ then it would drive him to sign a long term contract this year for the Rams where there is more security & guaranteed $$$ involved. This is the goal in the long term anyway. Rams can always match the other teams $$$ since they still control this process. If a team were to overpay CL in their offer, then, in the end, the Rams are awarded that teams 2nd rd draft selection 2020. That would be a highly valuable team asset.

Undoubtedly they need the money. I figure there will be extensive discussions between McVay, Phillips, Fassel, and Demoff over whether they can replace Littleton realistically, how much he is worth, and whether they want to risk getting rid of what was really their only quality linebacker last year, and whether the risk is worth .8% of their cap. They may feel that some of those rookies that just didn't get playing time this past season may be worthwhile. They may figure that if he signs elsewhere, a late 2nd would be able to replace him overall. We don't know for sure - I just am skeptical about the Rams beginning the linebacker starting corps basically from scratch again.

Very interesting subject. The Rams really have to start watching the cap money. My thought is the Rams could work out a deal long term deal for Cory without tendering him. Start him near the 2nd round tender cap hit year one and work his contract cap to 5.8 Million in year three. I'm spit balling here...Say 2.8 3.8 4.8 Mil salaries and roster bonuses and 4 Mil signing bonus. Signing bonus 4 Million guaranteed and 2.8 first year and 2 Million second year. That gives him some security from injury on a one year RFA deal with 13.5 Mil deal with 8.8 guaranteed.

Somehow if the Rams do have to tender him I would think round 2 offer would be the way they go. It's a risk I would rather avoid. Having a second round pick saves some much needed cap space if it comes to that. The question is can they find a replacement in round 2 that equal to Cory.

 

[fearsomefour]

I like Fowler but using a tag on him would be craziness.

 

[Ramstien]

I don't see the Rams using the Tag this year, I think they got burned using it on Joyner last season. They should be able to sign both Fowler and Saffold to reasonable contracts and if they can't just move on. I think there are plenty of NFL players that would love to be a Ram, during this time.