Rams GM Les Snead puts cap on offseason expectations

Les Snead, designer of the Rams' Super Bowl roster of 2021, sounds more like a general professional as he gets ready to repair the storm-battered roster of 2022.

As he did right after the Rams finished their 5-12 season in January, the general manager stated Thursday he'll be beginning a lineup "redesign" rather of a "rebuild" when the NFL free-agent signing period starts next week.

The Rams' potential to update will be restricted by the requirement to get under the NFL's salary cap by shedding some veteran wages, moves anticipated to consist of trading cornerback Jalen Ramsey.

At the very same time, their desire to start from scratch will be limited by wishing to keep the majority of the pillars of the Super Bowl LVI champion, such as the quarterback.

" The factor I said 'redesign,' not 'reconstruct,' is a gamer like Matthew Stafford," Snead said in a Zoom press conference with Los Angeles reporters. "To me, in a reconstruct, you would just bulldoze the house down and start reconstructing from the ground up.

" But when you have someone like Matthew Stafford, players like (pass receiver) Cooper Kupp, (protective lineman) Aaron Donald ... there's some weight-bearing walls that we still have, and we're going to count on those-- don't want to put pressure on them-- and after that, at that point, renovate around them with perhaps different colleagues, different partners."

Stafford, Kupp and Donald completed the season on hurt reserve, but Snead said all ought to be recovered in time for training camp.

Teams can start talking agreements with other groups' totally free representatives at 9 a.m. PT Monday, and can begin announcing free-agent signings and trades at 1 p.m. Wednesday. They also must get under the NFL's $224.8 million income cap by Wednesday. The Rams' payroll was $16 million over the cap since Thursday, according to OverTheCap.com.

Without calling specific players, Snead stated nothing to discourage speculation that Ramsey, edge rush Leonard Floyd and wide receiver Allen Robinson are most likely to be amongst the Rams' salary-cap casualties. Ramsey, a three-time All-Pro, signed a five-year, $100 million contract in September 2020, and trading him by June 1 would conserve the Rams $5.6 million versus the cap, according to Spotrac.com. They currently saved $5 million by releasing inside linebacker Bobby Wagner last month.

Among the Rams' unrestricted free representatives are backup quarterback Baker Mayfield, defensive linemen A'Shawn Robinson and Greg Gaines, cornerback Troy Hill, safety Taylor Rapp and kicker Matt Gay.

Preferably, they 'd make trades and signings to start to right away attend to requirements on the offending line, at outdoors and within linebacker and in the defensive secondary, before utilizing their 10 picks in rounds 2 through seven of the April 27-29 draft to attend to the future.

" Unfortunately," Snead stated, "to get under the cap, that typically indicates deletion with some of your much better veteran gamers who are making greater incomes, and it can likewise imply there's an unrestricted totally free representative-- or 2 or three or 4-- that you can't always re-sign (and) get under the cap."

The GM is reducing expectations for free-agent season.

" Our DNA is to attack, hit the gas. We're going to hit the brakes a bit," Snead said. "That does not change how we're going to approach the season, how we're going to approach the daily. It will absolutely change how we approach building the lineup."