How Will the Rams Approach Free Agency?

How Will the Rams Approach Free Agency?

By Myles Simmons


The NFL’s “legal tampering” period is already underway, with free agent deals reportedly being agreed to in principle across the league. With the Rams sporting a new coaching staff, it’s reasonable to assume the club’s roster will undergo a fair amount of turnover between now and the start of the regular season. Free agency is one avenue for Los Angeles to make that happen.

So how will the Rams approach free agency this year? Last week at the NFL Combine, general manager Les Snead detailed the organization’s usual methodology when it comes to offseason talent acquisition.

“Philosophically we're always: Draft first and develop from within. But you’ve definitely got to use free agency to supplement,” Snead said. “With that, similar to the draft but different is, OK, you've got a board of UFA's, that you would like to acquire. Some of them get franchised before we get to next Monday and maybe your board changes. And then the market forces that go into it, because we've got a budget to work with.

“We're definitely planning to be active, but you’ve got to wait to see how the process goes and see who goes off the board, what they get paid, and do they factor into your big picture,” Snead continued. “But I definitely think we need to use free agency to supplement our roster.”

While head coach Sean McVay is heading into his first free agency period with the club, he said last week having Snead continue as Los Angeles’ general manager is helpful in putting together a free agency plan.

“The thing you feel great about with Les being where it’s a new staff coming in, he’s got a jump on kind of what the draft has available, where there’s depth at certain positions that we need to address,” McVay said. “And that’s going to dictate what we do in free agency — maybe we’re able to address a certain need in the draft because there is a little more depth at a certain spot. So we expect to acquire some good players both through free agency and the draft and it’s something we’re looking forward to.”

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