Rams' rookie salary pool

A look at Rams’ rookie salary pool

By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/18318/a-look-at-the-rams-rookie-salary-pool

EARTH CITY, Mo. — Now that the St. Louis Rams have wrapped up their 2015 draft, they must set about signing the nine-player class to rookie contracts.

When it’s all said and done, the Rams’ draft class will cost $6,836,380 for 2015 salary cap purposes. As it stands, the Rams have plenty of room to fit this draft class under the salary cap but after the group is signed, the team won’t have a ton of wiggle room remaining.

According to the NFL Players’ Association’s latest numbers, the Rams have $9,291,726 in salary cap space at the moment. Keep in mind, though, that number includes only the top 51 salaries on the roster right now and eventually will add two more when the team trims its roster at the end of training camp.

That doesn’t mean the Rams’ hands are tied as there are still plenty of ways to create cap space if they need it, but in terms of money the Rams will have available if they want to, say, add a veteran offensive lineman soon, there’s not a lot available.

Here’s a look at each draft pick’s maximum allowable salary-cap figure for 2015, according to NFLPA records:

First round — RB Todd Gurley: $2,513,306

Second round — OT Rob Havenstein: $721,822

Third round — OL Jamon Brown: $623,704

Third round — QB Sean Mannion: $591,449

Fourth round — OL Andrew Donnal: $559,234

Sixth round — WR Bud Sasser: $463,434

Sixth round — OL Cody Wichmann: $457,621

Seventh round — LB Bryce Hager: $453,035

Seventh round — DE Martin Ifedi: $452,774

Keep in mind, the collective bargaining agreement has made this the equivalent of a slotting system so there’s not much room for negotiation on these rookie deals. Which means it doesn’t take long for deals to get done when teams choose to pursue them.

The Rams have traditionally taken a bit longer than other teams to get the deals done as they try to educate their rookie class before handing over a big check. The past two years, the Rams have signed and announced the deals for their rookie class in the second week of June. It’s reasonable to expect a similar timeline this year.

As for the overall value of the deals, the Rams’ total rookie cash allocation is $37,600,092, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll use all of that.