Speaking from where the Rams depth appears today, I keep the entire offense together for 2018, including Austin. His value as a change of pace RB & receiver exceeds his $5.mil in dead CAP money that it would cost to lose him, and i'm not sure he's tradable based on current salary and stats. 2019 is another story, especially if we can develop a guy like Justin Davis or another. Had Lance Dunbar proven to be a cheaper & more successful free agent pick-up, perhaps talk of moving Austin would make more sense, but Austin is a good blocker and the opposition must always account for him when he is on the field. My only potential additions on offense relate to OL depth, whether Sullivan remains healthy & how new guys like Blythe, Neary & Lucas stack up when the opportunities arise ... and where the hell is Donnal and why hasn't any media asked about him ?
On defense, my basic premise is similar to many already presented here. Quinn is far too expensive to become a rotational player only on obvious passing downs, and he's been a liability for our rush defense. Quinn & Barwin are ranked # 98 and # 101 overall for edge rushers this season by PFF, and we can see why. Barron & Ogletree are ranked at # 55 & # 73 overall for our interior, so if decent improvement doesn't come before the BYE, we should see some significant room for more rotational options during the second half of the season. Ogletree is rapidly getting into a tough bargaining position for his next contract as he enters free agency following this season, and Barron is already earning $11.mil this year and is scheduled to make another $10.mil next, so his dead money CAP hit of $3.mil for 2018 is looking like it could be a way out. And Quinn's dead money hit will fall beneath $1.mil. in 2018. I'd like to see Ebukam start ahead of Barwin fairly soon, and increase snaps for Longacre, Littleton & Hager, ... we may need to assume our 2018 free agency and draft will heavily lean on these positions as well as at CB in an attempt to replace soon to be future free agent Tru Johnson. Of course, all this is strictly conjecture at this point as Wade is the point man for getting the most out of what we have, but pushing the right players to excel when moving from a 4 - 3 Base D to a 3 -4 may require some personnel adjustments as few thought it could all be done successfully in a single year. Both Ogletree & Barron were never better than when serving as WLB'ers for the 4 - 3, so maybe trying to push a square box thru a round hole isn't the only answer, ... still, there are 12 more games in the regular season to see whether these guys can step it up a few notches, we'll just have to wait & see how it plays out. As far as the DL goes, with Brockers moving over and taking Westbrooks' snaps and Smart starting at NT, hopefully we have found our final front 3 starting combination going forward. As long as we're at it, lets start getting more snaps for J.Johnson, Alexander is failing at SS and JJ is likely his eventual replacement, hopefully sooner than later. It's a bit strange thinking of the Rams offense as basically a finished product while pondering how our defensive moves will address the next chapter.
The Rams are currently scheduled to have some $50.mil in available CAP for 2018, then add another $10.mil+ increase to the nearly automatic annual NFL CAP rise from TV revenue, ... if Barron & Quinn were to become CAP casualties following this year, imagine our team with nearly $77 - $80.mil in available CAP entering the 2018 free agency period. Re-signing Donald (who is already scheduled to receive his near $7.mil. 5'th year option salary), both he and Sammy Watkins suddenly look like an easy slam dunk to get under a new contract with PLENTY of $$$ to spare. jmo.
