[actionjack]

Until we find out what happens with Dotson, Alaric and Shelton, we don't know which direction we should go. But I'm of the mind, even if all three came back, getting a stud OL with the first pick would be smart. Very smart. Havenstein will be 32 in May and he has 2024 and 2025 left on his deal. Though Big Whit played to 40, he's the rare exception and not the rule. Is Alaric the LT of the future or just a placeholder until we find a premier LT?

If Stafford's window is closing (and we can be sure it is, even if we're not exactly sure when it'll actually close) then protecting him is paramount. Moreso this year than last and moreso next year than this year, if you get my drift. Edge would be nice. CB would be nice. Defense would be nice. But if Stafford is on his ass too much, they're not going to make the difference.

If you look at OTC or Spotrac, the Rams are heavily invested on the offensive side of the ball. To the tune of $151.6 mil to $57.5 mil. The natural reaction to that is, "invest more in the defense!!!" but that's how we win (or how most teams win in the NFL). Offense. Just ask the Ravens. Or the niners. So there's another way to look at it. If your best attribute is offense, then continue investing in it to keep it where it needs to be. As good as the Chiefs defense has been over the last 5 years under Spagnuolo, without Mahomes, Kelce, Tyreek, etc. they don't win 3 Superbowls. Hell, they might not have won 1.

JMHO.

Well the Chiefs would 100% not won the SB this year if it wasnt for their defense. The Defense saved them most of the season and was the difference in the playoffs.

I'm down for going OT I just wouldt do it with a first round pick, we arent getting an elite tackle unless we trade up, so finding one in the 2nd or 3rd will be ideal.

Go get a corner or Bowers if he is available in the first or WR, hopefully we sign D. Hunter, Dot and Sheldon.

Also another benefit of signing Hunter, we keep him from going to Detroit.

[Elvis]

Bills ain't no dummies:

[Elvis]

This is good for the Rams whether it means keeping Shelton or replacing him:

[ramsman34]

The Rams have options at C and OG. Not so much at LT. There will be more release too. And there should be plenty of serviceable back up QBs available; making a Wentz signing not nearly the priority I thought it once was. The Rams probably address that position later in FA, after the draft.

[/zn/]

Rams free agency buzz: Aaron Donald questions, OL markets, upcoming extension talks

By Jourdan Rodrigue

https://theathletic.com/5323006/2024/03 ... ed_article

The NFL combine came and went, bringing with it a new wave of chatter from agents, scouts, coaches, front-office executives and analysts within the hotel lobbies, restaurants, coffee shops and bars of Indianapolis.

While the Los Angeles Rams’ top brass did not attend (they haven’t since 2020), a small contingent of personnel did work behind the scenes and on the ground on what general manager Les Snead called “specific missions.”

For all 32 teams and the NFL ecosystem at large, a presence at the combine includes getting a clearer picture of free agency. The new league year begins on March 13; the legal tampering period — teams can talk to agents of other teams’ pending free agents — begins Monday.

The Rams will have about $40 million to spend in free agency, plus more pending a few likely upcoming moves (outlined below).

I spent six days in Indianapolis, in part to try to get a sense of the Rams’ plans from league sources. The Rams’ offseason actually starts with a $35 million question — at least, it did for those league sources: Aaron Donald has previously said he’ll return in 2024, but would the star defensive tackle actually walk away?

As other buildings and player representatives work to assess each others’ situations and try to predict the coming markets, some league sources who spoke with me on the condition of anonymity had serious questions about Donald’s plans — especially because the financial ripple effect for the Rams either way wouldn’t just be significant for the team’s own offseason moves, but other free agents and teams as well.

Recent public comments made by Snead did very little to answer those questions — if the team knows what Donald, 33, will do, they aren’t sharing.

“Definitely hope Aaron is (back) … I know Aaron is definitely approaching the offseason where he’s doing his normal getting-away, somewhat trying to get revitalized with the goal of playing good football,” Snead said in late-February, indicating that the Rams were treating Donald with the usual space following a productive season.

This bears reminding: At the end of the 2023 season, Donald said he would “for sure” be committed to carrying forward the progress he and younger teammates made in 2023 into 2024. When Donald signed his three-year extension in 2022 after initially contemplating retirement, multiple sources said the team received his commitment to play through its duration into 2024.

On the fifth day of the new league year, according to Over the Cap and ProFootballTalk, a $5 million bonus kicks in and Donald can also earn a $30 million guarantee on his contract if he is on the Rams’ roster. That is also the final year on his current deal, with two “void” years afterward. He is scheduled to make nearly $35 million in 2024 (still the highest among interior defensive linemen, though others are expected to reach deals into the new league year). That would be a huge amount of money to leave behind.

After the Rams’ season ended in January, Sean McVay was asked whether he was concerned that the decision of former defensive line coach Eric Henderson — a close friend and mentor of Donald’s — to take a job at USC would affect Donald’s intent to return for the final year of his deal. McVay’s response, like Snead’s, wasn’t altogether clear.

“I think those conversations occur at the appropriate time,” McVay said. “There’s so much emotion that takes place right after a game and after a season. … (I think) you give guys the chance to really just digest the season, coaches and players alike, and then we’ll address all those things at the right time.”

I don’t currently sense any consideration from the Rams to look into restructuring his 2024 money to create even more workable cap space, or to ask Donald to take less money. Donald is a future Hall of Famer who was an on- and off-the-field leader for a very inexperienced group in 2023. Further, it is not typically their style to push a player on communication during the break period of the season.

Donald’s salary in 2024, plus his public comments after the wild-card loss in Detroit, would normally not make this a question at all (other than in consideration of his age and previous retirement contemplation). He also has a no-trade clause in his contract.

Yet between McVay and Snead’s non-committal responses to direct public questions, plus ongoing questions behind the scenes from those league sources, this topic does bear monitoring.

If — if — Donald retires, there would suddenly be a $35 million financial swing that would affect other free agents, the Rams’ own free agency, a draft plan in April and certainly other teams. This is why league sources had questions in Indianapolis, including for the Rams directly — questions the team has yet to answer definitively, although the fifth day of the league year may do that for everyone.

Here are more odds and ends gathered from Indianapolis and back in Los Angeles:

• Snead said publicly that the Rams are in consistent communication with representation for starting center Coleman Shelton and starting guard Kevin Dotson. Both players are pending free agents who are expected to test their markets. The Rams would like to bring back both players and will attempt to do so as free agency begins.

Shelton voided a final year on his existing contract to become a free agent. League sources who are monitoring the offensive line market — where suddenly several centers are available — believe Shelton could certainly end up with mid-tier money but if he prefers to stay in Los Angeles, the Rams could work to get something palatable done for both sides.

The guard market is tougher to predict, with wild swings in price projections from $14 million to $20 million per year. I don’t believe that the Rams would overspend here, in consideration of the incoming draft class and their own resources. I can see them instead operating closer to the $12 million to $16 million range for that position.

• After speaking with people who are familiar with reserve offensive lineman Joe Noteboom’s situation, I believe a heavy contract restructure that would keep Noteboom in Los Angeles in a sixth-man role is on the table. The Rams could save almost $10 million against his current contract with such a restructure, instead employing him in the $4 million to $6 million range. Noteboom could also have the option to test the market — and that would likely mean a release, because the Rams will not keep him on his current $15 million salary in 2024. However, both McVay and Snead have publicly expressed their desire to retain Noteboom (his contract just has to be more team-friendly because he is no longer a starter).

• After speaking with league sources, I do not expect inside linebacker Christian Rozeboom, defensive tackle Jonah Williams or outside linebacker Michael Hoecht to receive tenders. The former UFAs could still return after testing free agency, but a tender would have been about $3 million for one year.

• Inside linebacker Ernest Jones is a candidate for an early extension and preliminary talks have begun, multiple sources briefed on those conversations said, but there isn’t a rush here from either side. The Rams usually do those types of deals after OTAs, or into training camp.

• Cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon and safeties Jordan Fuller and John Johnson III are expected to become free agents and test their respective markets. The Rams have had brief discussions with representation for all three players, but historically have not moved with urgency to sign safeties (with regard to Fuller and Johnson).

• The Rams are paying very close attention to the cornerback and edge rusher markets as free agency opens. As a reminder for this team — they do not “close for business” until the trade deadline in the fall.

[actionjack]

The safety market will def be interesting with the large amount of quality players available, IMO it means the chance of bringing back Fuller easier if they want. I wonder if the Rams value any of the other safeties higher? I know they wont pay a ton for the position.

If the Rams strike out on the EDGE in FA, I wonder if they go after Howard or Tre' Davious White...Got it fill some wholes prior to the draft. Still feel we are gonna go after D Hunter.

[Elvis]

The safety market will def be interesting with the large amount of quality players available, IMO it means the chance of bringing back Fuller easier if they want. I wonder if the Rams value any of the other safeties higher? I know they wont pay a ton for the position.

If the Rams strike out on the EDGE in FA, I wonder if they go after Howard or Tre' Davious White...Got it fill some wholes prior to the draft. Still feel we are gonna go after D Hunter.

Yep, like with center, lot of safeties out there, could make Fuller more likely to be back, a number i would've put at zero otherwise:

[FMulder]

There are some really good players being cut primarily due to Cap issues. The more that some of these players flood the market the more likely someone who was rated very high has the ability to slip into the Rams draft range. IF they stay at 19 I’d like them to go OT or Edge. I think they can get a quality WR even past the 2nd round.

On a different topic, one of the things I am so tired of is seemingly every player that is Franchised or Cut has to be put into the whole “could the Rams get X”? I get it, it’s the down time before the draft and FA is exciting for some, I just think that when the Assistant Strength Coach from the Boston Brawlers becomes available you can bet some of the crack wanna be journalists that have a computer, will be firing off the obligatory article on if he would be a good fit.

I’m sorry about my Grumpy Old-Manism, it’s just that some of these players are either not good fits, not needed, are too expensive etc.

I will now return to my front porch and yell at the neighbor kids for riding their bikes near my driveway. 🙃

[actionjack]

Yep, like with center, lot of safeties out there, could make Fuller more likely to be back, a number i would've put at zero otherwise:

Funny I feel like the Rams started this trend as well. Good on Rapp to get paid

[Elvis]

Funny I feel like the Rams started this trend as well. Good on Rapp to get paid

Rapp getting paid, Von restructuring to give some money back, what kind of upside down world are we living in?