The new league year officially began on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, allowing teams to officially sign free agents to contracts and execute trades. The Los Angeles Rams were quiet during the legal tampering period, opting not to sign a single outside free agent between Monday and Wednesday.
What they did do is lock up Dante Fowler Jr. for another year, ink Eric Weddle to a two-year deal and retain nine restricted/exclusive rights free agents. They didn’t have an abundance of cap space to begin with, and after making those moves, it’s shrunk significantly.
After making those initial moves, the Rams are currently left with $8.77 million, according to Over The Cap. That includes the following cap hits:
- Dante Fowler Jr.: $12M
- Eric Weddle: $5.8M
- Cory Littleton: $3.1M
- Troy Hill: $2M
- Malcolm Brown: $2M
- Blake Countess: $2M
Each of the exclusive rights free agents will earn $645,000, as well: JoJo Natson, KhaDarel Hodge, Dominique Hatfield, Morgan Fox and Kevin Peterson
Marcus Peters’ fifth-year option became fully guaranteed on Wednesday, paying him $9.1 million for 2019. If the Rams cut him, they’ll won’t get any cap relief, meaning the only way they can lower his cap hit is by signing him to a new contract. A trade is also still on the table, too.
Cutting Mark Barron saved the Rams $6.33 million, and by declining John Sullivan’s option for 2019, the save another $6.25 million. both of those moves are also accounted for in the salary cap.
