For the past three years, the Los Angeles Rams have not held back from splashy acquisitions. Whether it be trades or free agent signings, the Rams' contingent has not been gun-shy in building a roster capable of reaching the Super Bowl, which they did (but lost). However, those will catch up to them.
It's only inevitable that the massive extensions given to Aaron Donald, Todd Gurley, Jared Goff, Rob Havenstein and Brandin Cooks will eventually tighten up the Rams' cap space. In turn, they may struggle to resign those they traded for, such as outside linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. (free agent in 2020) and cornerback Jalen Ramsey (free agent in 2021).
Rams coach Sean McVay gave his thoughts on potentially having to make some sacrifices in the offseason due to simply not having enough money to circulate to their entire roster.
“That’s something that you learn,” McVay said regarding tough decisions that need to be made for financial reasons, via Pro Football Talk. “It’s about working through and figuring out, ‘All right, based on what we do have, how can we make it work?’ I think the tough thing is, you want to see all of these players get rewarded accordingly because the work and some of the things that you go through together. It’s so awesome to see these guys get rewarded, be able to take care of their families. You’d love to see everyone get paid, you’d love to be able to keep everybody. Unfortunately, that’s not real and that’s not realistic. If these guys are getting rewarded, that still is something you can take a lot of pride in. You’d always love to be able to retain your own guys. As you’re continuing to kind of navigate through what’s the best way to shape out our roster, given the financials and all those types of things, those are things that you work through. Frustrating, but something that you have to deal with, and everybody has to deal with that.”
The Rams will see Fowler become a free agent in the offseason. Fellow starter and inside linebacker Cory Littleton will follow him. On the offensive side of the ball, left tackle Andrew Whitworth is primed to join free agency or potentially retire at the age of 38.
Los Angeles will have some tough decisions to make very soon. The likeliest scenario is that they will see some familiar faces walk. The Rams must draft well to get value out of their rookie contracts, but they will have to do so without their next two first-round picks, which they traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars to acquire Ramsey.
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