The article mentions that the cap could go down to $175M, but the NFL and the NFLPA have agreed to spread this year's revenue shortfalls over the next 4 years so that doesn't seem realistic.
It's a simple exercise to spread the shortfall out in such a way that the cap next year is somewhat protected. Here's an article that suggests it might even go up a little, to $200M: [
www.profootballnetwork.com] ... but it could easily be higher than that.
Even at $200M, though, the Rams would have around $28M in cap space (based on overthecap showing around $43M in cap space with a $215M cap).
And they could restructure Goff and/or Donald and get more cap space. Not that I'm recommending this, but they could convert $12M in salary for each of them to signing bonuses and get another $18M in cap space in 2021. That would give the Rams $46M in cap space next year.
With $46M in cap space the Rams could sign all 3 if they wanted to. (It could be $56M if the NFL and the NFLPA spread the shortfall out using the example below. And it could $71M in the unlikely event that Goff and Donald are restructured to the max rather than 'only' $12M each.)
To explain what I mean by 'a simple exercise to spread the shortfall out in such a way that the cap next year is somewhat protected':
Th article mentions a $175M cap next year instead of the previously expected $215M, suggesting a $40M shortfall. Suppose, instead of taking that $40M hit in 2021 it was spread over the next 4 years like this: $5M in 2021, $10M in 2022, $10M in 2023, and $15M in 2024. Here's how that would play out:
Current cap projections from overthecap.com:
2021 $215M
2022 $227.5M
2023 $241M
2024 $256M
New cap projections with those adjustments:
2021 $210M
2022 $217.5M
2023 $231M
2024 $241M
AlbaNY_Ram
