Rams salary cap update: How much space does L.A. have and need for 2021 draft class?
One of the benefits of not having a first-round pick is the lower cost to sign the draft class. The Los Angeles Rams have realized that in the last five years and will continue to have one of the cheaper classes in each of the next two years, too.
For this year’s draft, the Rams’ top draft pick was at No. 57 overall, which is when they selected wide receiver Tutu Atwell. But after entering the draft with six selections, the Rams wound up with nine total draft picks thanks to three trades.
They won’t need a ton of space to sign their draft class, fortunately, because they don’t have an abundance of cap space to work with.
According to Over The Cap, the Rams have $7.39 million in cap space for 2021. That actually ranks higher than some would expect, putting the Rams 22nd in the NFL, slightly behind the Vikings, Cowboys and Seahawks.
OTC also estimates that the Rams will need $1.25 million in cap space for their incoming draft class. The team’s total rookie pool is valued at $7.19 million, but because of the top-51 rule – which makes it so a team’s 51 highest cap hits are the only ones that count – the space needed to sign the draft class is significantly lower.
Atwell’s cap number will be $1.1 million in 2021, according to OTC, the highest of any Rams draft pick this year. The other rookies will have cap hits ranging from $680,529 to $870,154 this season.
So if you subtract the $1.25 million needed for the draft class from the Rams’ current cap space of $7.39 million, that puts them at about $6.14 million. That’s plenty of space to make it through the season, and while it’s possible the Rams will sign a free agent or two between now and Week 1, they’d also probably like to carry over some cap space to 2022.
