Turf Show Times
We know that Cooper Kupp is probably out, but who do the Rams keep in 2025?
The Los Angeles Rams are going to try and get back to the Super Bowl next season. Despite reports of parting with one of their all-time best players, that’s not the sign that the Rams are tanking. Far from it actually.
So how do the Rams have a Super Bowl quality offseason again?
In Part I — “trim the cap fat” — the first step was releasing Cooper Kupp with a post-June 1 designation for $15 million in immediate cap savings. This was a week ago and then on Tuesday, Kupp announced that the Rams are trying to trade him. If they can find a sucker, great. But most likely, L.A. will be forced to release Kupp and it is better to have the cap space now and push some of the commitment into 2026.
At the end of Part I, the Rams had about $60 million in cap space after parting with Kupp, Jonah Jackson, Darious Williams, and Derion Kendrick.
The next equation to solve is: “Who do you keep?”
Starting with Matthew Stafford.
Moving on from Kupp is not waving the white flag. In fact, it is making the Rams better. But trading Stafford would signal to everyone that the Rams are going to make due with what they have and focus on 2026, potentially with a draft pick high enough to select Arch Manning or some other quarterback prospect in next year’s draft.
That’s not very Snead-like though, so instead the Rams double down on the 37-year-old Stafford and try to get a better team around him. This restructure — a term that confuses a lot of people as it is not a pay cut and usually doesn’t require the player’s permission — gets the Rams to around $75 million in cap space when combined with our other moves.
Estimated Cost: 4 years, $56 million ($19 million per season)
The Rams kept Joe Noteboom of all people, why not a tackle who was much better than him? This is one of the hardest positions in the NFL to replace and so even if Jackson isn’t elite, he’s good enough. This puts Jackson between Jake Matthews and Taylor Decker as the league’s eighth-highest paid left tackle.
His 2025 cap hit would come in around $12 million, which leaves $73 million left to spend.
Estimated Cost: 1 year, $5 million
Stafford is 37 and Garoppolo will have now had a year under his belt to prepare with this team and these coaches. He signed a $3 million deal in 2024, so this is a slight bump from that. It doesn’t do anything to prevent the Rams from drafting a quarterback if they see one they like. This is just a necessary veteran insurance policy.
$68 million left.
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