zn wrote:

Pettis too.

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Brian McIntyre @brian_mcintyre

Chris Long, Austin Pettis restructured contracts to help Rams gain cap space. Pettis rec’d $250k signing bonus to take $481k pay cut.

Rams make moves to comply with cap

By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/11344/rams-make-moves-to-comply-with-cap

EARTH CITY, Mo. — In an effort to become salary-cap compliant as the first week of the regular season begins, the St. Louis Rams made a couple of contract tweaks this week in order to clear more than $2 million in cap space.

Defensive end Chris Long and wide receiver Austin Pettis are the two players who reconfigured some things in their deal to provide the relief. Long, who has regularly been flexible with his willingness to restructure, had $3 million of his guaranteed base salary for this season converted into signing bonus, which means that $3 million is paid immediately but will be prorated at a tag of $1 million over the next three seasons on the salary cap.

In addition, the Rams converted $1 million of Long’s 2015 base salary into a roster bonus the team will pay on the third day of the next league year. That brings Long’s total of roster bonuses due early next year to $3 million.

Long’s restructured deal saves the Rams an even $2 million on this year’s cap but adds that guaranteed $1 million cap charge over the next couple of seasons. This is the third time since signing a lucrative four-year contract extension in 2012 that Long’s deal has been reconfigured, each time in an effort to clear some salary cap space.

For 2014, Long’s salary cap hit now checks in at $12,905,600 with a cash payout of $13,405,600, nearly all of which is guaranteed.

With only this season left on his deal, Pettis re-did his deal to help the Rams shave even more money from the cap. Pettis took a pay cut that lowered his 2014 salary to $700,000 and includes a $250,000 signing bonus. Pettis was originally slated to make $1.431 million. The move saves the Rams $481,000.

Before the moves, ESPN Stats & Information had the Rams fitting about as snugly as possible to the salary cap with less than $200,000 in available space. Now the team has a little room to breathe and cover the expense of the 10-man practice squad as well as fill any holes that might be created by injury.

TackleDummy wrote:

TackleDummy wrote:
Before all is said and done the Rams will have to come up with some cap space. This will probably mean reworking of the contracts of C. Long or Laurinaitis. Bradford might be a possibility, but I am not even sure if they could rework his contract while he is on IR or if they would want to.

I guess I was right after all.

As you pointed out before, we were saying the same thing.

ME (above): “simple tweaks here or there to this or that contract creates space with minimal effort. So I think if they need space, they already have the names and numbers in mind and can change things quickly and painlessly.”

I had in mind, for example, the last time they did that with Long. They just did it again.

That is, I took you originally as saying they were genuinely tight against the cap. At that point, most people saying that meant that they would have to cut someone.

My point was simply that they only look like they’re tight but can adjust that at any time. In a longer post, I pointed out that they generally do that by converting a portion of the cap into bonus money…so they decrease the frontloading a bit, and increase the stretched out bonus money a bit.

Turns out though, as you already pointed out, you were just saying the same thing from a different angle….you WERE talking about simple adjustments. When you pointed that out, I agreed…I originally had misread you (in this thread) as saying their cap situation was a problem. My point was that it only LOOKS like a problem–that they are set up to fix small cap issues with adjustments. That’s built right in to how they do things.

So in essence we were both right, but in the first go-round of this conversation (in this thread) I took you as missing exactly what in fact we were both saying.

Misreads happen. Mea culpa. But I thought this was already cleared up.

This issue raises all sorts of other thoughts.

In 2013, there were several linemen taken high in the 1st round and all but 1 struggled. In fact this summer, both Warmack and Cooper were still struggling.

That’s not the Rams way. Boudreau does things differently. And (I submit) for good reasons.

#1. Starting young OL immediately is not a universally good idea. As I said, all but one of the linemen picked in the top 10 last year, for example, struggled. That is probably because with increased emphasis on the passing game, the defense counters with increased emphasis on the pass rush, which in turn means that linemen need to be able to read defensive fronts and execute an array of protections–and they have to process all that quickly. Rookies will not always be good at that.

#2. The days of year to year OL continuity are over. Since 93, according to a study I posted here, teams on avg. replace 3.5 OL starters every 2 years. One response to that is to coach in flexibility. Notice for example that Person plays all 5 positions. GR plays 2. That means that in the short term their heads will be swimming but in the long term your line is better off.

#3. One way to handle the flexibility issue is to rotate linemen. Give the younger players some snaps, so they get a feel for it, but don’t just plop them in there to learn the hard way.

So we notice that instead of making Robinson struggle right away on a team that already lost 1 qb, they’re taking their sweet time with him. That’s not a bad thing, it’s a good thing–especially since they already provided for this scenario by signing Joseph.

The issue will be Long, not Robinson. But even then they have Saffold. It is a RARE team that is 3 deep at LOT. Long, Saffold, Robinson, and Person as the emergency utility guy. So they clearly thought about this.

Another thing this tells us is that Fisher is not acting like he is on a 3-year plan. He does things that favor future pay-off, not immediate pay-off. And for good reason–ownership backs him. Kroenke has owned teams before and his pattern is clear–he hires a proven vet coach or manager. He gives that guy time, and free rein (or, free reign…same thing). He does not sweat it if their are speed bumps on the way, as long as the team is clearly developing the right direction.

Fisher has a 5 year deal. He won’t be in trouble after year 3. It’s not SK’s way of doing things. So there is no make or break year 3.

21Dog wrote:

How do I contact a mod on this site?

You know that’s a good question…meaning I realized when you asked that that, in fact, we had not supplied that information. I will add something about that to the original post in this thread.

I am a mod–through PM. Or you can make it public, here. The other mods are Herzog, InvaderRam, and Mack.

Dak wrote:

As much as I’m disappointed that Robinson isn’t deemed ready to start yet, I’m glad that the coaches aren’t throwing him out there for the sole reason that he was a high draft choice. I’m also happy that Joseph is ready to go.

But, I do worry about Jake Long and the LT position in general. If Robinson is the backup, I’m afraid that we have a guy who looks old at LT backed up by a guy who is too green for prime time.

I think Saffold backs up LOT. GR presumably would go in at guard in place of Saffold?

Agamemnon wrote:

He is young and comes from a limited offense. He is almost another Quick. imo

rfl wrote:

Robby is on track to be a great OL…. Robby looked very good at LOT. I saw him give up part of a sack once, late in the half. But generally his pass blocking was sound: he’d have his guy walled off while the rest of the OL was being over-run. And his run blocking really is impressive. He can drive the DL, but he also gets to the 2nd level and blows LBs backward. Tell you what … right now I’d just as soon start him over Jake the Fraud Long.

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Just reinforcing all that:

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RockRam

I watched all the preseason games at least twice, and some 3 times, focusing on different people and units.

GRob is a beast! He throws 330 lb. Dlinemen around with one arm (I’m not exaggerating).

His problem is he makes mistakes. He blocks the wrong guy. Misses assignments.
But physically, he’s not movable on Pass Pro, and he moves his guy wherever he wants to on run plays.

It’s the mental part of the game and certain technique issues.
He’s an entirely different animal that J. Smith who was 30 lbs smaller and soft.

Before the draft, this issue was known.
The question all draft analysts asked was: which is better. To get a plug and play guy like Matthews that has a low ceiling but a high floor? Or get a guy who will need technique and assignment work who has a HOF ceiling?

If you will note, it is Fisher’s and Snead’s spoken philosophy to always go for the higher ceiling.
That’s what the did and I suspect they don’t regret it.

Just remember: Oline is tough in the NFL. Warmack and Cooper have struggled mightily even in their 2nd year.
And neither of those were asked to practice equally between LT and LG.

GRob is going to be fine. But it might be mid point this year.
Right now, Saffold and Joseph are simply better.

Fisher is not in trouble. He has a 5 year deal with an owner who has shown in the past that he hires veteran coaches, lets them run things, and does not sweat the short-term speedbump stuff.

And they’re not “questionable picks.” Week 1 of year 1 of a pick is way, way, way too early to make judgements like that (and besides you’re wrong about that anyway).

Toughen up dude. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Boudreau rarely if EVER starts rookie linemen early in the season and that’s going back YEARS. If nothing else that’s why they signed Joseph. They’re covered.

Cusumano has it in his head that Bradford was this huge liability (ie. he thought that before the injury). I don’t get that.

PA Ram wrote:

Robert Quinn ‏@RQuinn94 8m
Congrats to @JJWatt on the new luxurious extension…#WellDeserved

He forgot to add “yes!…bwa ha ha….“

According to several NFL sources, they readily admitted that the ESPN report by Josina Anderson last week where she asked players about Sam’s shower habits in the locker room “did him no favors.”