Turf Show Times
The Los Angeles Rams have built up to this offseason. Following the 2023 reset, the 2025 offseason was the one that general manager Les Snead had in mind. In 2023, Snead cut and traded players like Jalen Ramsey, Leonard Floyd, and Bobby Wagner in order to reset the cap. The team took on $74.23-million in dead cap which was the second-most in the NFL.
It was all for this moment and this offseason. The 2023 season went better than expected, but it was the reset. In 2024, it was about setting up the next era of Rams football as the team had a first-round pick for the first time since 2016. The 2024 season was always the set up year. While the roster may look slightly different than the Rams may have imagined it with no Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp likely gone, there is still an opportunity to put more chips in the middle of the table.
From 2020 to 2022, the mindset was to find cheap free agents that could be had for a bargain. The Rams were forced to limit and be smart with their spending. That’s not to say that they shouldn’t continue to be smart. At the same time, the Rams haven’t necessarily always been in a position to spend. Heading into the 2025 offseason, Snead will have the 15th-most cap space to work with and the potential to create more. They have future money available, especially heading into 2027 when they have no big contracts on the books.
The potential is there once again for the Rams to be aggressive. With the window to compete with Matthew Stafford at quarterback closing and the ability to draft a rookie quarterback in 2026, the Rams should have the financial flexibility to borrow from future years of needs. That doesn’t mean set themselves up for a cap-hell like the New Orleans Saints or even Philadelphia Eagles who have void years and very little financial flexibility. However, the ability is there to be smart with those types of contracts.
Again, a reason why the Rams are in such a healthy contract situation is because they haven’t handed out massive contracts over the last few seasons. While they have committed money to players, none of those contracts are past or have an out in 2026. The Rams are building for this current window.
Below are the Rams top cap hits in 2025 which includes an additional two players who account for $19.6-million in dead money or voided contracts.
A few core Rams are on rookie contracts such as Puka Nacua and Jared Verse. Nacua has a cap-hit of just $1.09-million in 2025 while Verse has a cap-hit of $3.44-million. That matters a lot for premium positions such as edge rusher. Looking at the cap-hits, it becomes clear why it makes sense to move on from players like Kupp and Jonah Jackson. Both have top-5 cap-hits at their position while not providing anything close to top-5 production.
While the Rams...
