The loss of Aaron Donald is significant - simply one of the best (if not the best) defensive players of his generation and a certain first ballot HOFer. I am not minimizing his loss, but I do realize that the beat goes on. 6 of the 12 starters (the 12th being slot corner) are entering their second or 3rd year. I will be extremely disappointed if any of these guys peaked in their rookie or soby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
Quoteden-the-coach Would the promotion of DL Coach Eric Henderson to DC instead of Chris Shula kept Donald for another year? I'm gonna say 'no'. AD essentially retired right after the Lions game. He made that call before Raheem and Hendo left.by AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
QuoteOzRam I do wonder about this process though. For instance were the roster and option bonus made guaranteed at some point before the start of this league year. In which case AD definitely help the Rams out. But when you here the words roster and option bonus it makes feel their for being part of the team this year......so it wouldn't seem right to collect them knowing your going to thenby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
QuoteOzRam Thanks for the breakdown. So to be clear the $13m he's getting is ghis new money or what was already due on the cap from his original signing bonus? The $13.8M is new money, but he would have gotten $25M in new money if he didn't agree to renegotiate his deal. The deal that was in place called for the Rams to pay him a $5M roster bonus and a $20M option bonus. AD agreed to take $13by AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
Quotekw13 If I am understanding the situation correctly, the Rams have continued to restructure Aaron Donald's contract to not only reward/pay him, but to take advantage of the restructure to make a little cap room in the current year. Rinse and repeat. And you choose a player that you know you are going to keep to play this cap game. However, what ultimately happens is that if you conveby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
AD's cap hit in 2024 was $34.2M before he restructured. After he restructured his 2024 cap hit dropped to $25M. Now that he retired his 2024 cap hit is $17.1M ... meaning the Rams got $17.1M in cap savings from his original cap hit of $34.2M. Along with Noteboom's renegotiation ($8.4M) the Rams added an additional $25.5M in cap space. Overthecap.com says the Rams had "... justby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
Here's what I posted: "... since AD retired rather than being traded or cut, they have the option of just applying this year's dead money to this year's cap ($17.1M) and then applying the rest to the 2025 cap ($25.2M)." And here's what Spotrac says: : Due to his retirement, the last two years of his contract become void in June, and the Rams will take on dead cap hits of $17 milby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
The screen shot below is from It reflects AD's deal after he restructured. First thing, under 'Guaranteed Salary' there's nothing for 2024 so that $1.125M salary shown for 2024 is out the window. Next, under 'Prorated Bonuses' there are separate columns for 'Signing' and 'Option'. The Rams are on the hook for the pro rated signing bonuses shown for '24, '25, and '26. They already paidby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
I'll dig into it when can, but at first blush it looks like the Rams simply wanted to toss a few million bucks Donald's way to say 'thank you for all you did for us'.by AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
Following along with the exchange and I have to comment on the class you showed with this post. Typical of what I see on the wonderful board, but worth mentioning anyway. :)-Dby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
The Rams don't owe him any money. The dead money comes from money the Rams already paid him but haven't yet applied to the cap. (e.g. Pro rated signing bonuses from previous years)by AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
Quote Was he that offended by the restructure??? There was nothing to be offended about. All the restructure did was convert some of his salary to a signing bonus. His pay was exactly the same before and after - he just got a chunk of it now instead of being paid over the 18 weeks of the regular season. If anything you'd think he'd be happy with the restructure. (Probably why he posted that dby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
Is there a DT the Rams might want to draft at 19? Or one they might want to trade up for? Or perhaps someone available in a trade?by AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
It warms my heart to see you picking up the battle flag on this. But so many writers misreport pay cuts as restructures that I'm not sure the correct terminology will ever take root. It's a renegotiation, not a restructure. <sigh>by AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
OzRam, you hit the nail on the head. I have screen shots from both and below and I think we can piece together the number combining info from the two of them. Spotrac still has his old contract info, but I think they account for his option bonus correctly. And Overthecap has the current contract data but I think they mishandle that option bonus. Referring to the Spotrac screenshot (thby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
Noteboom will pocket $7M for this season (in some combination of signing bonus and salary). Some starters and some backups are on rookie deals while others are on open market contracts. For the guys on deals after their rookie contract expires the market sets their price. So yeah, Noteboom is going to make $7M this year while Avila makes $1.17M. I doubt the Rams could have paid Boom lesby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
The Rams were set to pay Noteboom $15M this season and they cut that down to $7M, so they saved at least the difference ($8M) against this year's cap. We will know for sure when we see the details: some of that guaranteed money could be signing bonus, for example, and that would push some of the cap hit into future years (resulting in even more cap savings in 2024). I have seen that he hasby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
From : Donald restructured his contract for salary cap relief in 2024. The Rams converted $13.79 million of salary into a signing bonus. The move saved the Rams $9.2 million in cap room for 2024. That mones (sic) is added into the final two void years of the contract. The down side: as things currently stand the Rams will absorb $25.2M in dead money next year if this is indeed AD's last seby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
The following is a copy and paste from Jourdan's March 14 article in The Athletic. To me this doesn't actually say that the restructure has already taken place. Noteboom has a $5M roster bonus due on Monday (March 18) so even if nothing has happened on the Boom front yet it will certainly take place before then. The Rams haven’t released tackle/guard Joe Noteboom, which means he will have aby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
I get the sense that the Rams attract FA players for a lot of reasons, but the fact that they generally treat players fairly is certainly part of the attraction. Dotson actually got less than some pundits predicted (over $19M in some articles). To me his deal comes across as a win-win.by AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
QuoteStafford9 I hope he restructures I do not like voiding the last two years because he is going to want a higher pay day. right? I don't think it works that way. Right now Stafford's deal runs thru the '26 season. If they added a couple years at the end with no salary I don't see how that impacts Stafford one way or the other. Look at these two hypothetical contracts for Sample PlayerX:by AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
Stafford is already signed for the next 3 years, but they can still generate a ton of cap space by restructuring Stafford's deal. Here's one idea: - Convert $25M of Stafford's 2024 salary to a signing bonus. - Add void years in 2027 and 2028 so they can spread the signing bonus over 5 years instead of 3 (at $5M a year). This would clear $20M of cap space in 2024. It would add $5M to hby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
Kupp has three years left on his deal. His salary this year is $15M. If they converted $13M of his salary to a signing bonus and added a couple void years at the end the Rams would clear $10.4M in cap space this year. The would also add $2.6M to his cap hit in '25 and '26. And then, assuming he plays out all three seasons and then leaves the Rams (via retirement or FA), the Rams wouldby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
Quotedodgerram Stafford would have to restructure his contract if we want both Mack and Fuller. No doubt about it. But I just saw that Mahomes restructured with KC to save them over 20 million this year. If Stafford wants to win another SB he knows he has to agree to restructuring his contract. I don't know if the Rams will ask Stafford to restructure ... but if they do ask I can't imagine whyby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
Noteboom's $5M roster bonus is due March 18. Could be a few days before that shoe drops.by AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
The Rams could sign Hunter to a three-year, $63 million deal that features $41.5 million in guaranteed money. Here's a way to do that to minimize the cap hi in 2024: $20M signing bonus with void years in 2027 & 2028 structured like this. 2024: $2.5M salary, $4M pro rated signing bonus = $6.5M cap hit 2025: $19M salary, $4M pro rated signing bonus = $23M cap hit 2026: $21.5M salary, $4by AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
What they're talking about isn't a restructure. A restructure doesn't change the money a player gets, it only changes the way the money is paid out. That is, they change the structure. An example: converting $10M in salary to a signing bonus. The player still gets the $10M, but the cap hit can be spread across 5 seasons at $2M a year. A team will do this when they want to gain $8M in cap spaby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com
I'm not all that concerned about the gap between picks, but my general thought is in a deep draft like this one the more players with pro potential that you can draft the better. And with the way this team has been drafting the last coupe years I trust the FO to hit on more than a couple. I like both of your trade scenarios. And I really like that you would rather propose trade scenarios thaby AlbaNY_Ram - RamsFootballFans.com