OT Link: the Rams and Cap Hell

[upstater1]

Sources: Rams to release LB Floyd if no trade

The Rams are expected to release outside linebacker Leonard Floyd if they cannot trade him first, league sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

www.espn.com

The Rams are considering whether to cut Floyd now or else after June 1st. If they cut him now, they take a huge dead money cap hit this year. If they wait, they can spread the dead money over 2 years.

Sometimes you're up against the cap, you're in cap hell.

The Rams are taking the hit for this year (not that they were any good last year). But they are clearly intent on starting with a clean slate in 2024 rather than bleeding slowly in 2023 and deferring the pain.

Are you better off shedding your cap obligations now rather than pushing them into the future? Sometimes you are, sometimes you're not.

All I'm saying is that it's not a fiction for a team to declare, THIS IS THE YEAR WE BITE THE BULLET.

It happens.

 

[Zuma]

Not sure what kind of $ Floyd will be looking for...but he is 31 yrs old this year.

 

[PowerRunRevival]

The cap is in fact not crap

 

[Wozzy]

The bill always comes due eventually… they sold their souls for one ring. I guess it was worth it for their fans who were starving for one.

But give me the Patriots method of fiscal responsibility and fewer peaks and valleys over the roller coaster many teams go through.

Remember this day when other teams are going hog wild signing free agents to top of the market deals, or giving away draft picks like candies, and other fans are moaning “why not us?”

 

[Patriot Missile]

The approach got them a Super Bowl Victory but now it’s time to pay up. Personally don’t see anything wrong with it as long as you get that championship. Most times it fails but they made it happen

 

[WinstonSmith]

Sources: Rams to release LB Floyd if no trade

The Rams are expected to release outside linebacker Leonard Floyd if they cannot trade him first, league sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

www.espn.com

The Rams are considering whether to cut Floyd now or else after June 1st. If they cut him now, they take a huge dead money cap hit this year. If they wait, they can spread the dead money over 2 years.

Sometimes you're up against the cap, you're in cap hell.

The Rams are taking the hit for this year (not that they were any good last year). But they are clearly intent on starting with a clean slate in 2024 rather than bleeding slowly in 2023 and deferring the pain.

Are you better off shedding your cap obligations now rather than pushing them into the future? Sometimes you are, sometimes you're not.

All I'm saying is that it's not a fiction for a team to declare, THIS IS THE YEAR WE BITE THE BULLET.

It happens.

The Rams situation and how the Bucks managed their run and cap is the way to deal with being cap strapped. It's more of a short term purgatory than hell. The Saints, on the other hand, is an example on how to turn a short term stay in purgatory into something more hellish.

 

[upstater1]

When you say it's short term, how long do you think this is going to last? It'll be two very bad seasons in a row. Worse than anything the Patriots have experienced since the days of Kiam.

The Rams are going to have 3 very bad losing seasons in a row, and then maybe they'll get out from under it, at precisely the same time that Matthew Stafford retires, and the Rams go looking for a new coach. It's safe to say that Super Bowl victory was a trade for a decade of losing.

 

[Hyped]

If Bowles didn't call a zero blitz in that 2021 season divisional game, the Rams wouldn't have their ring....

 

[WinstonSmith]

When you say it's short term, how long do you think this is going to last? It'll be two very bad seasons in a row. Worse than anything the Patriots have experienced since the days of Kiam.

The Rams are going to have 3 very bad losing seasons in a row, and then maybe they'll get out from under it, at precisely the same time that Matthew Stafford retires, and the Rams go looking for a new coach. It's safe to say that Super Bowl victory was a trade for a decade of losing.

I agree that the Rams cap situation isn't great and I propably could have worded my response a bit better. The Rams currently have less cap space than the Saints (not factoring in the Carr signing) over the next four years. My point is that when you get to that point it's better to do a reset than prolong the process like the Saints have, and if they do it right it should be a two year reset.

 

[Steve102]

Many of us said that this could happen to them. It'll be interesting to see if it's indeed a reset or a set back.

 

[WinstonSmith]

Many of us said that this could happen to them. It'll be interesting to see if it's indeed a reset or a set back.

Trading away many of their early draft picks for vetran high salaried players helped to facilitate this. I was glad that Miami followed a similar strategy when they had their recent windfall of 1st round picks, especially when Miami didn't seem to be a piece or two away.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

If Bowles didn't call a zero blitz in that 2021 season divisional game, the Rams wouldn't have their ring....

Those of us who watched the Tompa Bay team's season were not surprised by coach Bowels.
What's most hilarious is that he was then promoted and proceeded as expected to wreck the offense even with the GOAT at QB.

 

[Brandon_Cox]

All I'm saying is that it's not a fiction for a team to declare, THIS IS THE YEAR WE BITE THE BULLET.

To your point, the Falcons ate 77.54 million of dead cap space this past season. They went from cap hell to having the second most cap space going into 2023

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Sources: Rams to release LB Floyd if no trade

The Rams are expected to release outside linebacker Leonard Floyd if they cannot trade him first, league sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

www.espn.com

The Rams are considering whether to cut Floyd now or else after June 1st. If they cut him now, they take a huge dead money cap hit this year. If they wait, they can spread the dead money over 2 years.

When a team processes a March cut as a post-6/1 cut, they don't get the actual relief until June.

 

[upstater1]

When a team processes a March cut as a post-6/1 cut, they don't get the actual relief until June.

Which is why it makes even more sense to just eat the contract now.

 

[Patsgofor4]

Those of us who watched the Tompa Bay team's season were not surprised by coach Bowels.
What's most hilarious is that he was then promoted and proceeded as expected to wreck the offense even with the GOAT at QB.

Can we not turn this thread into a rehash of Tompa Bay and the 2021 Championship that could have been but wasn’t, and the aftermath of that failure?

 

[ivanvamp]

Yep. Critics of the Patriots always point out that there are other ways to win, and point to teams like the Rams as an example. But what they conveniently leave out is that there's a revolving door of teams that win, and the Patriots were the only franchise to do it consistently like they did over a humongously long period of time. Yeah, you can win the way the Rams did...for a couple of years, and then the bill comes due. Then another team who is trying the same thing comes along and wins for a couple of years, then they vanish. Then another team comes along...etc. Rinse, repeat.

The only way to build a long-term great team is to (a) have consistently good coaching and team management (including fiscal responsibility), and (b) have a great QB.

The Pats had that for 20 years. The Chiefs have that now. Given the age of Reid*, who knows how long it will last, but they've at least got the same components as the Pats did during their great run.

Belichick was 51 when the Pats won their second SB title. Reid is 65. HUGE difference.

 

[50-yard-line]

Sources: Rams to release LB Floyd if no trade

The Rams are expected to release outside linebacker Leonard Floyd if they cannot trade him first, league sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

www.espn.com

The Rams are considering whether to cut Floyd now or else after June 1st. If they cut him now, they take a huge dead money cap hit this year. If they wait, they can spread the dead money over 2 years.

Sometimes you're up against the cap, you're in cap hell.

The Rams are taking the hit for this year (not that they were any good last year). But they are clearly intent on starting with a clean slate in 2024 rather than bleeding slowly in 2023 and deferring the pain.

Are you better off shedding your cap obligations now rather than pushing them into the future? Sometimes you are, sometimes you're not.

All I'm saying is that it's not a fiction for a team to declare, THIS IS THE YEAR WE BITE THE BULLET.

It happens.

If you're going to play the roller-coaster game - stocking up, trading draft picks all over the place, adding void years to stay under the cap - like we've seen recently with LA, the best thing to do is accept the suck for 2 years. Dump everything. You're going to get a good look at a lot of young players, at least.
The problem with the strategy, obviously, is that this isn't the NBA. Even stocking to the max ensures nothing. Fortunately for the Rams and the Bucs, they got their rings, so it was probably worth it.
But now comes the piper.

 

[Wozzy]

If you're going to play the roller-coaster game - stocking up, trading draft picks all over the place, adding void years to stay under the cap - like we've seen recently with LA, the best thing to do is accept the suck for 2 years. Dump everything. You're going to get a good look at a lot of young players, at least.
The problem with the strategy, obviously, is that this isn't the NBA. Even stocking to the max ensures nothing. Fortunately for the Rams and the Bucs, they got their rings, so it was probably worth it.
But now comes the piper.

The bigger problem is the Ram's traded away every first until 2025 and in the present...



Their offensive line outside of one player, Rob Havenstein, is utter garbage... and even he is considered one of their least consistent players. At minimum they need 4 new linemen, maybe 5 and at least 1-2 rotational guys for depth.

Their defensive backfield outside of Ramsey isn't good and the only CB with promise David Long is a free agent... speaking of a player I'd like to target.

Yeah BB burned through cap space from 2014-2019 and borrowed against future cap... he never traded away all his draft picks. One down year in 2020 to reset the cap and they were back in the hunt and drafting their rookie QB to start over again.

 

[Ring 6]

The thing about cap hell is that if you cut bait you can be out in a year, 2 at the worst (in the event you are in so deep you can’t afford the dead money of all the cuts) Then the dead money is gone the next year and you can rebuild.
The problem most teams have is they stop at half measures and draw out the problem.
Then you have the rams who also traded away all their picks.