Quote
george_allen
yes, in and of itself, the $4M won't buy fowler and or littleton. but the cap space in 2020 isn't just the $4M. The $4m brings it up to almost $26M.
they will have to cover the meager 2020 draft class and the paltry 2020 practice squad cap hits.
now here comes the ifs, depends, assumings and maybes...
depends on what they can sign fowler, littleton and zuerlein for in terms of annual cap hits for the terms of the contracts. . .
and if they can backload the cap hits of all 3 contracts. . .
assuming they get some semi-decent comp picks for brockers, blythe and bortles . . .
maybe the rams can lock up all 3 for a few more years.
i actually see how they could do it. and i'm excited about it.
When trying to retain players that are free agents in 2020, you can't just look at the 2020 cap. You've also got to consider future years and upcoming free agents since a Fowler or Littleton will be signing long term deals that span several years.
In 2021, the Rams have the following free agents to deal with:
Ramsey
Kupp
John Johnson
Everett
Nickell Robey-Coleman
Weddle
Josh Reynolds
Ebukam
Clay Matthews
Troy Hill
And more...(including Demby! haha)
That's 10 players that are a pretty big part of the team right now. So the consideration is more than determining if they can afford Fowler and Littleton in 2020.
It's more like, can they afford their huge contracts already on the books plus Fowler, Littleton, Ramsey, Kupp, John Johnson, Everett, etc. in 2021 and beyond? The short answer is no. Some of those good players are gonna have to be allowed to leave.
The same rationale is the argument against backloading the cap hit. If you backload in 2020, you make it more difficult to retain some of those big names in 2021.
Besides, Demoff doesn't usually backload. He's done it on occasion but more often than not, he doesn't do it.
