[moklerman]

2020 season hasn't happened yet. How can we be so sure its a foregone conclusion?

I don't think anyone's guaranteeing a bad year but choosing to dump two of your stars, not having a 1st round pick, having to work with only 75% of the cap, new DC, o-line still not solidified, RB by committee without anyone proven, WR corps less potent, will the real Goff please stand up, Matthews, Littleton and Fowler gone, little to no depth...

[snackdaddy]

The Rams were tied in the Super Bowl with 7:30 remaining.

Give me the mismanagement that got us there any day of the week.

Yup. In the previous offseason they had a shot at a championship team and went all in for it. Came up just a tad short in the end. Can't fault them for that. Quite a few teams would love the have the Rams record the past 3 seasons.

For most teams, success is cyclical. Bad teams like Cleveland don't even get that cyclical success. For a couple years in our division we were the team to beat. Today, the 49ers are the team to beat. Next year, who knows? Cyclical. That is life in the NFL for most teams unless you were the Patriots with Belichek/Brady.

Odds are, we're not gonna have a winning team every year. When we don't we will come here and give our opinion on why and what we think they need to do to rectify it. And those opinions will be all over the place.

[moklerman]

Yup. In the previous offseason they had a shot at a championship team and went all in for it. Came up just a tad short in the end. Can't fault them for that. Quite a few teams would love the have the Rams record the past 3 seasons.

For most teams, success is cyclical. Bad teams like Cleveland don't even get that cyclical success. For a couple years in our division we were the team to beat. Today, the 49ers are the team to beat. Next year, who knows? Cyclical. That is life in the NFL for most teams unless you were the Patriots with Belichek/Brady.

Odds are, we're not gonna have a winning team every year. When we don't we will come here and give our opinion on why and what we think they need to do to rectify it. And those opinions will be all over the place.

Perhaps the problem is that "going for it" in the manner that they did flies in the face of what ESK supposedly wanted for this franchise. Mortgaging a season or two for a SB run isn't what this team was supposed to be about. We were supposed to be the Patriots and emulate their model and success. Throwing caution to the wind, paying early and paying big and unfortunately, being wrong are all the antithesis of how a consistently dominant team does things.

[snackdaddy]

I don't think anyone's guaranteeing a bad year but choosing to dump two of your stars,

This has been a common thought about why the Rams are falling apart. Two starters who were pretty good prior to 2019. Personally, how can we be so sure these guys were the difference in 2020? 857 yards at 3.8 per carry. Was Gurley going to have a monster year with that questionable knee?

Cooks had 42 catches for 583 yards and 2 TD's. 13.9 yards per catch. Not exactly among the leaders in YPC for a speed guy. Was he going to have a monster year with his concussion history?

Assuming those guys were going to be difference makers is reaching if you ask me. Just like when people say Rams fans are reaching if they think the current roster will compete. I believe we will be no worse without those two in 2020 than we were in 2019 with those two. Question is, will it be good enough to compete? We'll have to wait for that answer.

[AvengerRam]

Mortgaging a season or two for a SB run isn't what this team was supposed to be about.

What does "mortgaging a season or two" mean?

[snackdaddy]

We were supposed to be the Patriots and emulate their model and success.

Well, we're among 31 teams that would love to do that. But so far none of us have been able to. Maybe the Chiefs have a generational quarterback that can match or eclipse that success? Maybe, maybe not.

[CanuckRightWinger]

Yeah snackdaddy...anything can happen during the 2020 season. We could win the NFC West in 2020....and of course I hope we do! I hope we win every year....since 1967.

BUT....there is no question the Rams braintrust shat the bed on managing the 2020 Salary Cap. That's obvious to anybody who can add two numbers together.

That's why the Pastoors apologists are talking about 2021, and how we only have Kupp, JJ and Ramsey to re-sign then.
....better to look forward to the hope of 2021, than view the 2020 Ram Salary Cap shitshow!

That's also why the guy whose thread claims "over reaction" to the 2020 Ram Salary Cap mess is claiming that "you have to look at that omnipotent SECOND ROUND PICK that Snead purloined from Texans HC/GM O'Brien in the Brandin Cooks trade to really understand about the Dead Money fear being "an overreaction".

ME: Hey, I mighta been born at night....but NOT last night.
Hey, Galileo...
Like in what fooking universe does a #57 overall Draft Pick negate a Dead Money hit of $24.7 Millions, or 12.11% of the 2020 Rams Salary Cap, huh?

Here's the Real Tale Of the 2020 Salary Cap Tape in the NFC West

Seattle Top 12, QB Wilson to PK Jason Myers...63.42% of 2020 Salary Cap
Seattle Dead Money is about $2Million so about 1.00% of 2020 Salary Cap
SEATTLE TOTAL FOR TOP 12 GUYS PLUS 2020 DEAD MONEY IS 64.32%

SF Top 12, QB JimmyG to M.McGlinchey RT...58.31% of SF Salary Cap
SF Dead Money is $300K or, all of only0.14% of SF Salary Cap
SF TOTAL FOR TOP 12 GUYS PLUS 2020 DEAD MONEY IS 58.45%

NOW FOR LOS RAMOS....STRAP-IN BECAUSE IT'S GONNA BE UGLY!
RAMS TOP 12 (INCLUDING GURLEY MONEY )GOFF to BROCKERS...72.36% OF CAP
RAMS DEAD MONEY IS $24.7 MILLIONS FOR A WHOPPING........12.11% OF CAP
RAM TOTAL FOR TOP 12 GUYS PLUS 2020 DEAD MONEY IS 84.47%.

ouch!!

We are OverTheCap per spotrac and overthecap.com by millions.....
and sportsfans.....we have NOT shown Leonard Floyd the exBear as signed in either website. I don't see how we sign Floyd actually. NFL was granting some special leniency and rules for COVID-19 to teams regarding 2020 Free Agent Contract signing rules.....so does Floyd get stiffed?

Strange times we live in!

BTW, don't shoot the messenger eh! I do want the Rams to play great in 2020 and knock the shit outa the Niners and Seahawks......but the facts are that Kroenke's numbers guys did not put us in a very advantageous salary cap position to pull that off!

[VegasRam]

I don't think anyone's guaranteeing a bad year but choosing to dump two of your stars, not having a 1st round pick, having to work with only 75% of the cap, new DC, o-line still not solidified, RB by committee without anyone proven, WR corps less potent, will the real Goff please stand up, Matthews, Littleton and Fowler gone, little to no depth...

One way to look at it I guess, but another way would be...

Cooks and Gurley certainly were NOT stars last year,
1st round pick guarantees you nothing,
That 25% (closer to 20%) dead money you keep referring to is spread over two years,
New DC is a plus,
Oline has to be better than last year,
Running backs I'll give you,
WR corps is better by subtraction,
Agree - EVERYTHING pretty much depends on Goff,
Matthews is no loss at all, Littleton I'm sixes on, Fowler is a loss, but's been replaced,
Depth is as good/bad as any team in the NFL - very subjective.

Have a little faith brother - we were 9-7 ffs!

Cheers.

[moklerman]

This has been a common thought about why the Rams are falling apart. Two starters who were pretty good prior to 2019. Personally, how can we be so sure these guys were the difference in 2020? 857 yards at 3.8 per carry. Was Gurley going to have a monster year with that questionable knee?

Cooks had 42 catches for 583 yards and 2 TD's. 13.9 yards per catch. Not exactly among the leaders in YPC for a speed guy. Was he going to have a monster year with his concussion history?

Assuming those guys were going to be difference makers is reaching if you ask me. Just like when people say Rams fans are reaching if they think the current roster will compete. I believe we will be no worse without those two in 2020 than we were in 2019 with those two. Question is, will it be good enough to compete? We'll have to wait for that answer.

I think it's easy to think that they had the potential to return to form. If they were on the team, there would at least be a chance for that, not to mention defenses still have a certain amount of respect for both of those guys IMO.

It's debatable how likely their return to form would have been but as it stands, it's absolute zero. We're paying $47M to insure that it's impossible to get anything from them.

I hope you're right and somehow we get rid of Gurley, Cooks, Littleton, Fowler, Matthews and Zeurlein yet get better.

[moklerman]

One way to look at it I guess, but another way would be...

Cooks and Gurley certainly were NOT stars last year
No, but dumping them insures they'll never return to form for the Rams. And that would be fine if it was actually saving the team something but it's costing them to make those moves.
1st round pick guarantees you nothing,
Who said they did? But is it better to have a 1st round pick or not have one?
That 25% (closer to 20%) dead money you keep referring to is spread over two years,
I don't think there's any way to count all the dead money as an actual positive. One can ferret out a silver lining but these two contracts were disasters.
New DC is a plus,
He's an unknown, at best. I was frustrated with Wade but he's a championship caliber DC. It's too much to assume the new guy is already an improvement.
Oline has to be better than last year,
Why? We have most of the same pieces, Whit isn't getting any younger and the others are all still question marks.
Running backs I'll give you,
WR corps is better by subtraction,
That doesn't make sense to me. Cooks had a down year but he was still a respected starter. Bumping Kupp and Reynolds up has just as much of a chance of exposing them as it does improving the whole unit. Probably more so.
Agree - EVERYTHING pretty much depends on Goff,
I hate to say too much about Goff but he hasn't proven that he can handle being the focal point of the offense on a regular basis. Hopefully he steps up but '19 doesn't instill in me that confidence.
Matthews is no loss at all, Littleton I'm sixes on, Fowler is a loss, but's been replaced,
Matthews wasn't what he used to be but he was better than "no loss".
Depth is as good/bad as any team in the NFL - very subjective.
I don't agree with that. Our depth is very thin right now, more so than other teams. Maybe not every team but in general, we are paper thin in many areas. With no cap and reduced draft picks to fill holes.

Have a little faith brother - we were 9-7 ffs!

Cheers.

I actually do have faith in McVay. He took a LONG time to adjust last year but he seemed to finally get past some of his struggles. I think he'll get it back on track eventually but there's only so much coaching can do. With reduced depth and talent, I don't think you can compete for a championship.