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Old Goat
Man, what a stupid contract to be stuck with... just keep him another year and get it over with. Makes no sense to cut him and pay to have him be someone else's backup.
The $15M cap hit the Rams would incur if they cut Noteboom is money they already paid him. They would not pay him another dime if they cut him.
He got two signing bonuses along the way - when he signed his extension and when he renegotiated. But even though he already has that money in hand it has not all been accounted for against the cap. The final three installments of $5M each are currently due in '24, '25, and '26. If they cut him all three installments come due. That's where the $15M cap hit for cutting him comes from.
(Note: the Rams would have the choice of taking the $15M hit this year or pushing $10M of that until next year if they call it a post-June 1 cut.)
If he still had some guaranteed money on his deal then sure, the Rams would have to pay that. But that is not the case here.
So ... that $15M is a sunk cost. The Rams have to count that against the cap at some point whether the keep him or cut him. They paid him the money, it will eventually count against the cap.
The question on the table is do you want to pay him
another $15M on top of that (yes, for a total of $30M in cap hits) to play for this season. And for me the answer is no, you do not pay a backup OL $15M for one season.
AlbaNY_Ram
