The reason the Rams have the possibility of long term success is that they seem to be able to keep or acquire talent for more reasonable costs than some other teams.
Stefon Diggs not only got the $26 mil per year average contract, but also $70 mil guaranteed. The Rams got Robinson for a little over half of that. Yeah, stats wise Diggs has better. But he has had better QBs throwing to him than Robinson ever had.
I like Diggs. But does he bring that huge of a value to his team? Can any WR?
You've got to hand it to the Rams. In the era of $50 mil per year new deals for QBs, the Rams paid Stafford $40. In the era of $25 mil per year deals for top WRs, the Rams paid Robinson $15. Even what Wagner got is a pittance compared to what LBs of a similar stature are being paid (Von Miller comes to mind).
This reminds me so much of the former Pats that somehow always got top players for less, which enabled them to keep adding more good players, which meant that they were a threat to go all the way every season. And how the Pats would let top players walk if they were going to cost too much because it would limit how much other talent they could acquire.
I will say this: I think some of these ginormous contracts are teams anticipating a steep rise in cap next year and in the next few years. I think the Rams are too in the way they are structuring these contracts to give more immediate cap relief without dumping a lot of good players.
