I am not a cap expert. Nor am I a pessimist.
However, I do believe we are coming to the end of the time Donald and Stafford will be Rams. They will likely be on the team in 2023, but I do not have much faith they will be with the team in 2024. If I am correct, and please correct me if I am wrong, there will be massive cap hits if they retire or are traded in 2024.
Near as I can tell, Stafford's cap hit in 2024 will be 49.5 million and Donald's will be 34.1 million. If they depart the team one way or another, there is a substantial dead cap penalty. Poof! There goes the 2024 cap space. Or 2025. Or 2026.
The hope would be that they would both be with the team until the end of their contracts and continue to play at a very high level. For a variety of reasons, I just don't see that happening.