Quote
AlbaNY_Ram
Well, that was just one example from what is literally an endless number of possibilities. All I was trying to illustrate is that there are practical solutions to the 2022 cap constraints. I have no idea if a $30M cap hit is an issue for 2023 at this point, but if it is then the Rams have options, including offering a lower 2023 salary in the initial extension or converting some of his 2023 salary to a signing bonus in 2023.
And.
Yes they can sign Stafford. I was never concerned about that. And yes they can do it by buying future cap space. Once they do they will have Stafford, Donald, and Ramsey under big contracts. Say, 20 M each. Which as an estimate, is low. (Actually, in 2023 AD and JR combined = 48.7 M cap hit.)
Now in terms of using Stafford to clear space for 2022, it's a placebo. Because as I showed, they have 8 important FAs up from 2022 to 2023. They were never going to keep them all but then there's added pressure to replace them. It includes all 5 starting OL (though AW is not realistically a FA). They will either have to sign some of them or replace some of them.
Can the Rams handle the cap? Sure. Are the challenges getting tougher? Yes. What will that mean? Well if they do it right without restructuring every year--which is just compounding the pressure on future cap years---they can be tight, make a sacrifice or 2 (like letting a player walk they would normally want to keep).
Normally I would not offer that kind of conciliatory rhetoric, but I am always baffled by the over-reactions, so you basically have to tell people in advance--calm down, no one is predicting armageddon. (BTW, when they traded for Stafford, I was one of the ones saying they would handle the cap issues. That was fairly predictable.)
What happens though when someone like me says they have to be careful with the cap and the challenges ahead? It's hard to do that because you usually have to confront multiple direct reactions. It's never treated as just interesting conversation with various views possible.
Challenge ahead: they have to simultaneously maintain the OL, especially with a looming retirement coming at LOT, and quality LOTs (and not even "elite," just quality) are not easy to acquire. At the same time they will be paying 3 huge contracts when most teams usually do not have 3 contracts in the 20+ M range.
Again, the "normally I would think this is unnecessary but turns out it often is necessary" qualifier (which is not aimed at you Albany): no one is predicting armageddon.
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2021 08:37AM by zn.
