How Trent McDuffie Affects Future Rams Contract Extensions
· Yahoo Sports
Following the roster demolition during the 2023 offseason, the Los Angeles Rams had one clear path back to competitiveness. That path was finding young, cheap talent through the draft. This would allow the Rams to reset their cap by eating the dead money of big contracts and still build towards the future.
During the 2023 and 2024 drafts, general manager Les Snead had one of his best stretches of talent evaluation. In 2023, the Rams drafted Steve Avila, Byron Young, Kobie Turner, Warren McClendon, and Puka Nacua. Snead followed that run with Jared Verse, Braden Fiske, Blake Corum, and Kam Kinchens in 2024.
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While it’s great that the Rams found all of that talent, they are now in a position three years later where they have to decide whether or not to pay all of that talent. This is a good problem to have. Ideally, a team is drafting well enough to pay internal talent in order to limit needs in free agency. That’s the exact position that the Rams are currently in.
At the end of the day, the Rams were never going to be able to bring all of those players back. The salary cap can be manipulated and contracts can be structured in certain ways through front-loading and back-loading. However, it still exists. With that said, the Rams have money to accomplish this. The Rams don’t have a lot of contracts tied into future years. They are projected to have $181.2 million in cap space in 2027 and $310.7 million in 2028.
That doesn’t mean that the Rams can be reckless with their spending, but the money is there to be spent. They should be able to retain a good amount of their developed talent. Still, an added twist here is that the Rams traded for cornerback Trent McDuffie from the Kansas City Chiefs who will require a top of market deal at the position.
The acquisition of McDuffie certainly changes the equation to an extent. While the Rams aren’t forced into signing McDuffie to an extension, that is the expectation. They have this year to decide and could always utilize the franchise tag if needed. Still, the most likely scenario seems to be that McDuffie will get an extension.
Taking a look at the Spotrac market values and projected contracts for some of the Rams’ premier free agents over the next two seasons, and decisions will have to be made.
- WR Puka Nacua – 4 years, $154.1 million ($38.5M/year)
- EDGE Byron Young – 4 years, $112.2 million ($28.1M/year)
- CB Trent McDuffie – 4 years, $111.5 million ($27.9M/year)
- DT Kobie Turner – 4 years, $99.7 million ($24.9M/year)
- iOL Kevin Dotson – 3 years, $57.3 million ($19.1M/year)
- iOL Steve Avila – 4 years, $70.2 million (17.6M/year)
- OT Warren McClendon – $13.4 million OTC evaluation
Those are just the Rams’ 2027 free agents and McClendon’s is likely going to be closer to the $18 million per year range than $14 million. By 2027, the Rams may have the benefit of a quarterback on a rookie contract. Still, the valuations of all those players add up to $169.5 million which would leave them with $12 million to fill out the rest of the roster. Again, while contracts can be structured a certain way to make things work, the Rams currently only have 33 players under contract in 2027 which doesn’t include the incoming rookie classes.
With the contract values very similar, this essentially comes down to whether or not the Rams want to re-sign McDuffie or Young. The Rams also may need to make a decision on Avila or Dotson. Removing Young and Avila from the mix leaves the Rams with $123.8 million in money spent.
Again, that’s only a rough estimate as some contracts will be more expensive than the evaluation and the Rams can also front-load or back-load certain contracts to make them all work together. That’s where contract structure can get complicated as it all becomes a giant spiderweb. With that said, this does at least paint a general picture of some of the decisions that the Rams will be facing.
Looking ahead to 2028, while Verse will be expensive, the Rams will have the benefit of a fifth-year option with his rookie contract. If the Rams bring back Turner, it likely means that they’d have to move on from Fiske. As good as Kinchens has been, the Rams also historically haven’t paid safeties.
The Rams may need to get overall cheaper with their depth, but it only emphasizes the need to draft well. For the players that do receive contract extensions, the hope will be that they are able to carry the roster to an extent and will only need to be supplemented with cheaper talent.
It’s generally how the Rams built the roster in 2021. They had their core pillars at each position group in Jalen Ramsey, Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, Andrew Whitworth, and Aaron Donald. Those players carried each position group while cheaper talent around them played their specific roles.
Again, while this exercise isn’t exact, it’s at least a rough estimation of some of the decisions that the Rams will need to make. Adding McDuffie certainly changed the equation a little bit, but it’s also a good problem to have. Needing to decide which players to give extensions to only emphasizes how well the team has drafted in recent years.