[/zn/]

$44M in cap space next year and $100M in 2020. Most of Cooks' money ($42M) is already parked in those years. $17M cap charge already on the books for Gurley 2020. Even after front loading those contracts, we still have all that room for Donald and more. Following the Ram's practice of putting big money in early years, they could have Donald's cap charge be $40M in 2020 (to get to those pesky annual averages) and still have $60M in space.

Key 2019 FAs - Suh, Joyner, Saffold, Hav. I don't think we intend to give top positional money to any of them for different reasons. Could easily retain most of them, though, after retaining Donald. If Donald signs, we have the franchise tag for one of them. Depending on this season, they may go the T. Johnson route, and FT Joyner 2 years in a row. That would be ok…even though people hated that spend with TJ. Maybe Saffold (as longest tenured Ram) signs a team friendly contract to finish out and go for more winning that demanding upper G money on a 3rd contract. In 2019, we also could cut Whitworth ($11M in savings), Talib ($8M), and/or Barron ($7M) to get space for FAs.

Key 2020 FAs - Peters, Brockers. If he can be less of young jerk at times, I like giving Peters top CB money in 2020 as well. He’s an elite-level talent, too. So, IMO, you pay Donald now and Peters next year (when he’s going into his final contract year), and the Rams are set up greatly until 2021 and the Goff negotiations. And everyone’s assuming we want to pay him Kirk Cousins’ money plus 3 years of salary escalation. I’m not there yet. But bottom line, all this fear about cap space seems to me unfounded. Sure, we need to find good young cheap labor (at OL, S, LB) to offset the top talent, but the Ram’s have done good there under Snead overall IMO.

I think that's a very good account. Just want to toss in my opinions, mostly in support of yours. I doubt they keep Hav...ROTs are just not hard to replace. They MIGHT keep Saffold. If they find the room for one more year of Suh, fine with me. As much as I like Joyner, this crew just finds DBs, so losing him would not be a big concern to me. I do assume they keep Goff. They will have no choice in what they pay him---it will be the going rate for starting qb 2nd contracts in 2020 (they sign him in 2020 but the new contract starts in 2021). It will be more than Cousins. I agree with your take on Peters.

I agree that fear of the cap is exaggerated. One key account states that winning teams tie up 60% of their cap in their top contracts. That account listed 10 players as forming the core but I think with players like Donald you can make it 8 (because an elite DT makes the pass rushers around him better and you pay for that). If the cap in 2021 is 220 M (it is said to be more), 60% of that is 132 M. If you add up Donald, Goff, Gurley, Cooks, and Peters that's about 100 M, leaving about 32 M for additional top contracts (depending on the player that's anywhere from 3 to 4 guys). Plus by 2021, they will have 3 more 1st round picks, which will presumably be low 1st round picks, and those guys cost around 2.3-2.6 M or so, which would be part of the 40% not the 60%.

It's doable, for sure. They wouldn't be "mortgaging" their future they would be ensuring their future.

An analogy--imagine you take 8 core members of the GSOT. Without those 8 what do you have? Lots of draft picks, UDFAS, reanimated castoffs, and basically a decent middle class. But not the GSOT. Then find any decent team and add the core GSOT 8 to that team. And you have a contender.

It's the same thing. You build in your core and if your personnel people are good, you add a decent and effective team around them. But it won't consist of 22 elite starters. The difference is your core, and in the cap era, they can afford this core.

...

[aeneas1]

$44M in cap space next year and $100M in 2020. Most of Cooks' money ($42M) is already parked in those years. $17M cap charge already on the books for Gurley 2020. Even after front loading those contracts, we still have all that room for Donald and more. Following the Ram's practice of putting big money in early years, they could have Donald's cap charge be $40M in 2020 (to get to those pesky annual averages) and still have $60M in space.

Key 2019 FAs - Suh, Joyner, Saffold, Hav. I don't think we intend to give top positional money to any of them for different reasons. Could easily retain most of them, though, after retaining Donald. If Donald signs, we have the franchise tag for one of them. Depending on this season, they may go the T. Johnson route, and FT Joyner 2 years in a row. That would be ok…even though people hated that spend with TJ. Maybe Saffold (as longest tenured Ram) signs a team friendly contract to finish out and go for more winning that demanding upper G money on a 3rd contract. In 2019, we also could cut Whitworth ($11M in savings), Talib ($8M), and/or Barron ($7M) to get space for FAs.

Key 2020 FAs - Peters, Brockers. If he can be less of young jerk at times, I like giving Peters top CB money in 2020 as well. He’s an elite-level talent, too. So, IMO, you pay Donald now and Peters next year (when he’s going into his final contract year), and the Rams are set up greatly until 2021 and the Goff negotiations. And everyone’s assuming we want to pay him Kirk Cousins’ money plus 3 years of salary escalation. I’m not there yet. But bottom line, all this fear about cap space seems to me unfounded. Sure, we need to find good young cheap labor (at OL, S, LB) to offset the top talent, but the Ram’s have done good there under Snead overall IMO.

i'm far from a capologist but skimming through the rams numbers (spotrac) last week it seems that things could get rather tight?

currently the rams show an $87m cap on the books in 2020 - assuming the cap increases to $200m by 2020, we're looking at $113m left to work with... lots of current guys aren't included in that $87m cap, but let's just look at the top 20:

offense: goff, whitworth, saffold, sullivan, brown, havenstein, cooper, mannion, higbee
defense: donald, suh, brockers, joyner, talib, peters, longacre, shields, easley
special teams: zuerlein, mcquaide

these 20 guys account $105m of this year's cap - add this $105m to the $87m already on the books, and we're at $192m (96% of the projected $200m), without giving any of the 20 guys raises.

obviously there are ways to get creative when it comes to cap management, but i don't see a whole lot of wiggle room at the moment, not without saying adios to a lot of guys, and replacing them with cheaper options.

[snackdaddy]

I see a lot of reports coming out concerning the AD negotiations. I doubt anyone besides the parties directly involved know what the actual numbers are. But if there is even a smidgen of truth the the reports I think a deal gets done before the season starts. Whether or not its going to be a cap buster I don't know. But I do know with AD in there we could be looking at 2018 being a special season. After that, who knows? Either way I think we're going to be a good team for a while. And I'm going to enjoy this season while its here.

[/zn/]

i'm far from a capologist but skimming through the rams numbers (spotrac) last week it seems that things could get rather tight?

currently the rams show an $87m cap on the books in 2020 - assuming the cap increases to $200m by 2020, we're looking at $113m left to work with... lots of current guys aren't included in that $87m cap, but let's just look at the top 20:

offense: goff, whitworth, saffold, sullivan, brown, havenstein, cooper, mannion, higbee
defense: donald, suh, brockers, joyner, talib, peters, longacre, shields, easley
special teams: zuerlein, mcquaide

these 20 guys account $105m of this year's cap - add this $105m to the $87m already on the books, and we're at $192m (96% of the projected $200m), without giving any of the 20 guys raises.

obviously there are ways to get creative when it comes to cap management, but i don't see a whole lot of wiggle room at the moment, not without saying adios to a lot of guys, and replacing them with cheaper options.

Spotrac does not project rising caps in keeping with current estimates. So for 2021, they have the cap at 187 M. Over the cap does a better job with that and they have the 2021 cap at 220 M or more.

In fact look at the difference between SR and OtC when it comes to 2019. SR has the 2019 cap at 187 M (same as 2021!) and the Rams with 44+ M in space. OtC has the 2019 cap at 190 M and the Rams with 58+ M in cap space. I have no idea where THAT difference comes from.

Either way I do not see them keeping all (if any) of the following into 2021: whitworth, saffold, sullivan, brown, havenstein, mannion, higbee, suh, joyner, talib, longacre, shields, easley

By 2021 that's 3 years worth of personnel acquisition to add guys around their top core.

....

[aeneas1]

Spotrac does not project rising caps in keeping with current estimates. So for 2021, they have the cap at 187 M. Over the cap does a better job with that and they have the 2021 cap at 220 M or more.

eh? who said anything about spotrac projecting nfl annual caps?

[aeneas1]

I see a lot of reports coming out concerning the AD negotiations. I doubt anyone besides the parties directly involved know what the actual numbers are. But if there is even a smidgen of truth the the reports I think a deal gets done before the season starts. Whether or not its going to be a cap buster I don't know. But I do know with AD in there we could be looking at 2018 being a special season. After that, who knows? Either way I think we're going to be a good team for a while. And I'm going to enjoy this season while its here.

agree.

[Elvis]

The Rams want to pay AD a lot of money to play football. AD wants to get paid a lot of money to play football.

I feel like there's a deal in there somewhere...

[Horny Mcbae]

I feel like this flurry of "inside" info is all a bunch of hooey. The one Rams twitter dude puts out a tweet saying it'll be done soon and at this price per year and that makes all the others jump on and comment even though they have no information because if they don't they look like they are out of the loop, which they are.

If Shefter and Rappoport who have the best sources aren't being told anything then it means both sides are doing a great job of keeping it under wrap which is a good thing. I wouldn't want the negotiations to be held through the media, as much as these media guys really want it to.

I just really hope he can show up at camp at least 1.5 weeks before the first game and get in some actual football reps and get into actual football shape. Raider on MNF...…….. I want us to be full strength.

[/zn/]

I feel like this flurry of "inside" info is all a bunch of hooey. The one Rams twitter dude puts out a tweet saying it'll be done soon and at this price per year and that makes all the others jump on and comment even though they have no information because if they don't they look like they are out of the loop, which they are.

If Shefter and Rappoport who have the best sources aren't being told anything then it means both sides are doing a great job of keeping it under wrap which is a good thing. I wouldn't want the negotiations to be held through the media, as much as these media guys really want it to.

I think that's generally true, but there is info. It's just not precise or detailed info. Look at 3 examples:

DTR: will be done this week
VB: will probably be done the end of August
Schefter: will be done eventually

So Schefter is much more wishy washy (and from his account you can tell he knows less than others too--his discussion of the numbers sounds dated). VB is more definite than AS. I have no idea which is right. I personally doubt DTR but at the end of the day it too is just a rumor like the others, though it's the most eager/earnest of the 3.

But what do they have in common? That the 2 sides are working on it, they're getting it done, they're getting there. Which is very different from last week when some people instead believed the rumor that AD was bailing, that the process was stalled. A lot of people believed that and acted accordingly. No, what we get now is that they're working, which means they're compromising, which I think means that the Rams are offering more than they were and AD's side is coming down from where they were. Personally I am inclined to believe that they are working on it actively and making progress.

And obviously they're not done till they're done.

...

[Indrid Cold]

currently the rams show an $87m cap on the books in 2020 - assuming the cap increases to $200m by 2020, we're looking at $113m left to work with... lots of current guys aren't included in that $87m cap, but let's just look at the top 20:

offense: goff, whitworth, saffold, sullivan, brown, havenstein, cooper, mannion, higbee
defense: donald, suh, brockers, joyner, talib, peters, longacre, shields, easley
special teams: zuerlein, mcquaide

these 20 guys account $105m of this year's cap - add this $105m to the $87m already on the books, and we're at $192m (96% of the projected $200m), without giving any of the 20 guys raises.

Where the cap space is invested this year, in my view, won't the places in 2 years. We also control Goff on a 5th year option. I haven't found that $ figure.

defense: suh (14.5M), brockers (11), joyner (11.3), talib (11) - there's ~48M spent this year that IMO likely won't being paid in 2020. Some of these guys may be around in 2 years, but not at increases. And Barron is on the books for $9M in 2020, another area to save.

offense: whitworth (12.6), saffold (7.8), is another area where they'll look to being allocating considerable less cap % in 2020