The “remodel” plan involving the Los Angeles Rams unfortunately led to one of the more quieter offseasons in the regime of general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay. Now, the Rams are facing a $58 million figure attached to them.
Except that dollar amount brings forth this for L.A.: They’ve cleared up $58.2 million in cap space for 2024 off their free agency decisions, according to Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap on Sunday, April 2.
Per Fitzgerald, the Rams are one of two NFL franchises who have set themselves up to have the most salary cap space for next season.
“The two teams with the biggest focus away from 2023 and mainly on 2024 are the Rams and the Titans. The Rams improved their salary cap position by $58 million and shed over $12 million in prorated money from 2024. They are up to 18th in the NFL in projected cap space with $55 million and should be open to more dealing during the season,” Fitzgerald wrote.
OTC’s Fitzgerald Also Looks at 2023 Model
While the Rams have set themselves up to have more freedom for the 2024 season, it’s still not excusing them from being critiqued by Fitzgerald and OTC for their 2023 work.
It’s been an offseason that saw defensive captain and top cornerback Jalen Ramsey get traded away, saw sack leader Leonard Floyd get released, watched Bobby Wagner drift back to the Pacific Northwest after one season with the Rams and finally, saw Greg Gaines and Baker Mayfield both head to the NFC South to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While Fitzgerald dove into every NFL team’s ’23 model and examined the cost of each team’s spending during free agency, the dollar figure he gave the Rams? Zero dollars.
“Finally we had the Rams who added nobody in free agency but they did bring in Hunter Long as a throw in on the Jalen Ramsey trade. His contract averages $1.24 million a year so technically he qualified, but realistically this team added $0 to the team this year,” Fitzgerald wrote. “I’m not sure if that has ever happened before. It probably has but it’s a rough offseason for Rams fans hoping for some help.”
Per Fitzgerald and his OTC model for 2023, the Rams were only one of three teams who gained just one player during the offseason. The annual per year amount they gained from ’23 was $1,242,174. The Rams, though, tied for the second most players lost during this free agency cycle at 11 total along with the Titans. And the APY the Rams lost was $50,102,500.
Rams Rival Was ‘Picked Apart the Most’
Meanwhile, the Rams fortunately weren’t the ones who lost the most roster numbers from the 2022 season. An NFC West rival of theirs had one more than L.A. did.
“The team that was picked apart the most were the 49ers who lost 12 players this year at a total of $84.845 million in annual contract value,” Fitzgerald said. “While over $20 million of that is attributed to Jimmy Garoppolo, they did have a tighter cap situation this year and were very targeted in who they decided to acquire and had to let many of the depth leave here.”
Following the NFC runner up 49ers? The NFC champions.
“The Eagles were next with $74.8 million in talent losses across 10 players. They did not have a starting QB leave the team so this was arguably the most impactful group of major losses teamwide,” Fitzgerald wrote.
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Rams Have Telling $58 Million Figure Attached to Them: Analyst