Les Snead sees some cap flexibility through restructures, but not a lot

[theramswire.usatoday.com] Les Snead sees some cap flexibility through restructures, but not a lot

Cameron DaSilva
March 3, 2022 1:45 pm PT

If you look at the Rams’ current salary cap situation, it appears bleak. They’re $21.6 million over the cap right now and have several starters hitting free agency. But there are ways for them to create space, which they must do by the start of the new league year on March 16.

Restructuring is an obvious way to free up some money, but Rams GM Les Snead doesn’t see a lot of opportunities to tweak players’ contracts.

“There’s not a lot of restructuring,” Snead said this week. “We have some highly paid players and there’s a few that we can maybe renegotiate or redo. But if you look at our team, there’s a lot of players that probably couldn’t necessarily be restructured to help us. That’s why we have to definitely rely on – ironically, based on everything that’s been said this year – the draft. The draft is very, very important to us.”

Jalen Ramsey and Cooper Kupp are candidates to have their contracts restructured, with each move freeing up about $10 million this year. But by doing that, the Rams will put money on the cap in the next few years, essentially kicking the can down the road and delaying their bill.

By drafting well, the Rams can help fill out their roster and still keep high-priced players, but Snead doesn’t expect many players to have their contracts restructured this offseason.

“We definitely use the draft because when you don’t necessarily have players you can just go open them up and give them a signing bonus to create cap room and push it down the future, it just limits you a little bit,” he said.