5 Rams players whose contracts could be restructured

The salary cap is set to decrease in 2021 as a result of lost revenue from last season due to the pandemic. The Rams are projected to be over the limit by about $35 million if the cap comes in at around $180 million, which the NFL says is the floor for it.

Needing to get under the cap by March 17, the Rams are expected to restructure at least a few of their players’ contracts before then. Restructuring converts either base salary or bonuses into a signing bonus, which is prorated over the remaining years of the contract.

It’s not a pay cut, and oftentimes it means a player can get more money up front rather than waiting until future years. It’s a common move made by teams, especially this offseason with the cap dropping.

Here are five Rams players whose contracts could be restructured soon.

Aaron Donald

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Potential savings: $14.18 million Donald is the most obvious restructure candidate because he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. The Rams have no plans to move on from Donald in the near future and his contract runs through 2024, giving them ample years to prorate either his salary or bonuses across. It will make it more difficult to cut Donald down the road, especially considering his remaining cap hits already range from $19 million to $27.9 million in the next four years, but again, the Rams have no plans to do that. He’ll be 33 in the final year of his contract and there’s no reason to believe he can't still be at least a Pro Bowler for the next four seasons.

Jalen Ramsey

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Potential savings: $13.21 million Ramsey is essentially in the same boat as Donald, a player the Rams expect to keep for the duration of his contract. His deal runs through 2025 and his remaining cap hits will range from $19.5 million to $23.5 million. A savings of $13.21 million is significant in a year where the salary cap will decrease, making him a prime candidate to restructure his contract. Pushing money out to later years won’t be an issue for the Rams, given Ramsey’s status as one of the best cornerbacks in football.

Matthew Stafford

Potential savings: $12.62 million Stafford isn't as obvious of a restructure candidate as Ramsey and Donald. He has two years left on his contract with cap hits of $20 million and $23 million in 2021 and 2022. There is a void year on his deal in 2023, but at the moment, there is no dead money that comes with it like there was with Leonard Floyd this year. Stafford is likely to remain the Rams’ quarterback for the next two seasons, but restructuring his contract will raise his cap hit significantly in 2022, thus making it more difficult to cut him if things don’t work out in his first season in L.A. The more likely scenario with Stafford is signing an extension with the Rams, which could lower his cap hit in the next two seasons.

Cooper Kupp

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Potential savings: $8.01 million Kupp just signed his extension last summer but given the cap situation, he could already have his deal restructured. He’s only signed through 2023, so restructuring his deal will only spread money out across three seasons, thus the lower savings in 2021. Not that the Rams are going to cut Kupp anytime soon, but at the moment, he’d only have $3 million and $1.5 million in dead money if cut in 2022 or 2023, respectively. By restructuring his contract, it could increase his dead cap hit to $11 million in 2022 if he’s cut. This all comes down to how confident the Rams are in Kupp remaining a top receiver, which it seems they very much are.

Robert Woods

(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Potential savings: $9.14 million Woods and Kupp are in similar boats, having signed their extensions close together last year. Woods’ deal runs through 2025, however, so he’s under contract for two years longer than Kupp. There’s very little guaranteed money left on Woods’ deal after 2021, though. For example, the Rams could cut him at any point after next season and take on $600,000 or less in dead money from 2022-2025. Woods’ dead cap hits would rise to about $9.74 million in 2022 and $7.3 million in 2023 if his deal is restructured this offseason, thus making it much tougher to move on from him until 2024. As long as the Rams are confident in keeping Woods around for the next three seasons, restructuring would be a fine move for them to make.

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