Everything to know about Rams' salary cap situation as free agency begins

[theramswire.usatoday.com] Everything to know about Rams' salary cap situation as free agency begins


Cameron DaSilva
March 14, 2022 9:18 am PT

The Rams don’t have the cap space that many other teams have as free agency gets underway. Their roster is top-heavy, with stars taking up a good chunk of the salary cap. That may not seem like good business, but it did just win them a Super Bowl, so it’s hard to argue with their roster-building strategy.

Despite being more than $20 million over the cap, the Rams still have ways to free up space and sign many of their own free agents, as well as an outside player or two. Here’s an update on their salary cap situation with free agency beginning this week.

Current cap situation
According to Over The Cap, the Rams have the second-least cap space of any team in the NFL right now. In fact, they don’t have any cap room at all at the moment.

They’re $20.27 million over the limit, one of nine teams that are over the cap. The Packers are a whopping $43.8 million over, though they’ve already begun clearing space by cutting Billy Turner and Za’Darius Smith.

The Rams must get under the $208.2 million salary cap by 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 16. That’s the official start of free agency and the new league year.


Top cap hits
The following 10 players have the biggest cap hits on the team in 2022. This is how much they will cost the Rams in cap space next season, and clearly, there are some big contracts on the books for the Rams in 2022.

Aaron Donald has the largest, followed by Jalen Ramsey, Matthew Stafford, Leonard Floyd and Cooper Kupp. None of those players are going anywhere this year.

Aaron Donald: $26.75 million
Jalen Ramsey: $23.2 million
Matthew Stafford: $23 million
Leonard Floyd: $20 million
Cooper Kupp: $18.68 million
Andrew Whitworth: $17.67 million
Robert Woods: $15.7 million
Rob Havenstein: $9.6 million
A’Shawn Robinson: $9.5 million
Tyler Higbee: $8.05 million

Contracts that could be restructured
One of the easiest paths for the Rams to clear cap space is by restructuring contracts. This is done by converting a portion of the player’s base salary into a signing bonus, which gives them more money up front and increases their cap hits in future years.

So while it saves money now, it makes it more difficult to cut a player down the line.

Aaron Donald: $8.8 million savings
Jalen Ramsey: $10.47 million savings
Matthew Stafford: $10.94 million savings
Leonard Floyd: $10.31 million savings
Cooper Kupp: $10.38 million savings
Robert Woods: $9.29 million savings
Rob Havenstein: $4.6 million savings

Potential cap casualties
The Rams don’t have a ton of logical cap casualties this offseason, certainly not many players who can create a ton of cap space if they’re cut before June 1. Johnny Hekker and Taylor Rapp are two of the top options, as is A’Shawnr Robinson – but Robinson would leave $4 million in dead money behind,

Johnny Hekker: $2.05 million savings
Taylor Rapp: $2.54 million savings
A’Shawn Robinson: $5.5 million savings
David Long Jr.: $965,000 savings
Justin Hollins: $965,000 savings