Rampage
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- Mar 19, 2019
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The Rams didn’t make the playoffs. They don’t have a first-round pick until 2022, and they haven’t had one since 2016. They’ll have roughly half their salary cap tied up in five guys next year, with some not-insignificant holes to fill.
But General Manager Les Snead still likes where they are.
“I would rather be where we’re at now than trying to get here,” Snead said, via Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times. “Because trying to get here, you don’t know if you can get here . . . But it’s a different formula.”
Under the old formula, when quarterback Jared Goff was on that sweet, sweet, cheap rookie contract, they could trade picks for expensive stars with abandon — and they did. Now that Goff’s been paid, they’ll have over $100 million in cap space tied up in him, Aaron Donald, Todd Gurley, Brandin Cooks, and Jalen Ramsey. And that’s before Ramsey gets the big deal they have to give him after trading so much (their next two first-rounders) to acquire him.
The cap is expected to be in the $200 million range next year.
“What we’ll do over the next week or two, is take a step back, definitely let the emotions, the disappointing emotions, the negative emotions of it all, dissipate so you can at that point try to make sound decisions and continue the effort to contend,” Snead said.
They also have some immediate holes to fill, with six starters slated to become unrestricted free agents — left tackle Andrew Whitworth, center/guard Austin Blythe, pass-rusher Dante Fowler (11.5 sacks), linebacker and leading tackler Cory Littleton, defensive lineman Michael Brockers, and kicker Greg Zuerlein.
“Unfortunately we can’t pay everybody,” Snead said, stating the obvious.
Now comes the hard part, of figuring out how to get better, without the kind of assets one normally uses to get better.