I am curious about the Garoppolo/Wentz decision.

Wentz is still out there, and nobody is talking about him as far as I know. And, afaik, the knock on Wentz was character, rather than ability. I didn’t follow him at all, but I don’t think he was known for making poor reads, or lousy study habits, or a weak arm, or whatever. Wentz had only one performance with the Rams, and he did okay. Granted it was essentially a pre-season game, and the stakes were low. But I never heard anything about Wentz. Did he not fit in with the Rams’ scheme somehow?

Granted, Garappolo has a better-looking resume, so he may be a better QB than Wentz. I don’t know why he flamed out in LV. I know the 9ers thought he had limited upside, and believed Purdy was the better QB. (And, btw, it’s a pisser that the 9ers wasted all that draft capital to trade up for Trey Lance, only to have Lance be a bust, only to have the 9ers’ ass saved by Mr. Irrelevant. They should be in hell right now, but Purdy came from nowhere to save their asses).

So Garappolo is a proven “better-than-meh” starting QB. And Wentz, I guess, is not. But the cost difference between the two couldn’t be a whole lot, and Wentz has better physical skills. I’m just curious.

I’m fine with Garappolo is a #2. He might be the best #2 in the league, as a matter of fact. He’s good enough to win games, obviously. This is no Brett Rypien.

nittany ram wrote:

Apparently the giddiness generated by Donald’s retirement is starting to wane. Now he’s compensating by fantasizing about Stafford getting hurt.  What’s next, Puka going blind?

Puka would still be a top 10 receiver even if he went blind, but I see the point you’re trying to make.

wv wrote:

Can you imagine if Stafford got hurt the week before a 49er game, and JG started for the Rams against Shanahan? w v

The closet Seahawks fan is out of the closet. Again.

Making a pot out of clay in 1 minute pic.twitter.com/MPImthdJcc

— schuld (@schuld_eth) March 18, 2024

Zooey wrote:

Conspiracy theory on the net: AD will come back for the stretch drive like Eric Weddle. Me: Nah. That isn’t the way the man operates. He never took a shortcut in his life.

How does Aaron Donald’s retirement impact salary cap? Rams leave door open for return
OverTheCap broke down how Aaron Donald’s retirement impacts the Rams salary cap

By Blaine Grisak

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2024/3/16/24103004/rams-cap-space-aaron-donald-retirement-free-agency

The outlook for the Los Angeles Rams offseason took a completely different turn on Friday when Aaron Donald announced his retirement from the NFL. With Donald retiring, one of the biggest questions has been how it will impact the Rams salary cap. Prior to Donald’s announcement, it was reported that the team restructured his deal, opening up $9.2M in cap space. With that said, the restructure and retirement also has other implications.

Jason Fitzgerald from OverTheCap did a fantastic job breaking down Donald’s contract and how his retirement impacts the Rams salary cap. Here is what Fitzgerald had to say,

“Per a source with knowledge of the contract this was not a typical restructure where salary was just converted to a signing bonus. In this case the Rams converted his $5 million roster bonus, which was already guaranteed, to a signing bonus. They took $8.79 million of his salary, which was going to become guaranteed in a few days, and added it to his $20 million option bonus…The restructured contract, in light of Donald’s retirement, reads a bit more like salary cap maneuvering by the Rams to keep the door open to Donald possibly coming back to the team. If both sides were 100% on the retirement they would have simply bought his salary this year down to $1.21 million and taken out the option and roster bonuse. My guess is they want to leave the door wide open for him to come back. By doing the restructure, the Rams brought Donald’s salary cap number down to $24.97 million. Placing Donald on the retirement list would have caused the Rams to take on a $28.5 million cap charge at a minimum so this gives the Rams a little more room to work with.”

Even though Donald is retired, that doesn’t put the Rams off the hook from paying him, opening up $30M in cap space. His contract is still on the books and the Rams still have to pay Donald what he is owed. However, they can structure things in a way that works for both sides and maximizes their available cap space.

With how Fitzgerald describes it, the Rams are leaving the option for Donald to return in the case that he does end up changing his mind. While unexpected, it is possible and not totally out of the realm of possibility. We’ve seen the play out recently with players like Tom Brady who retired and then un-retired. There are also things that the Rams can do with some of the bonuses and options in the contract that they can restructure.

Said Fitzgerald,

“By deferring his salary into the option it also gives the Rams a chance to keep Donald on the roster through June, if they want, and place him on the retired list at that point. It also gives Donald months to consider if he wants to return since the contract is simply waiting for him if he returns to the NFL this year or any year in the future. If the team waits until June they should be able to split the salary cap charges across two years, though the cap charges are contingent on the way his signing bonus works. If the signing bonus is a legit bonus then the money should count towards dead money in 2024 and 2025. If it is earned but no money ever changes hands prior to the retirement the NFL will likely just disregard the bonus. If there is money paid and the team is later paid back the Rams will take a charge in 2024 with an offsetting credit coming in 2025.”

Reading Fitzgerald’s full explanation of Donald’s contract and the retirement implications is certainly worth checking out as there are several dead money scenarios depending on what the Rams decide to do. There’s a scenario in which the Rams could also restructure the contract once again to remove some of the option bonuses, lowering his cap-hit to $14.2M.

Again, Donald’s retirement doesn’t necessarily help the Rams from a salary cap perspective as they still have to pay out his contract. They can do minor things with some of the bonuses and options that will give them a little more room to work with. As it stands, the Rams opened up $9.2M with Friday’s restructure which could help bring in another low-value free agent.

Conspiracy theory on the net: AD will come back for the stretch drive like Eric Weddle.

Me: Nah. That isn’t the way the man operates. He never took a shortcut in his life.

I don’t get it. What’s the catch?

Here’s a list of all the Safeties on the Top 100 FA Tracker at CBS, their ranking in the 100, and what they signed for:

9. Antoine Winfield (TB) –  Franchise tagged (1 year, $17.1 million)
23. Kamren Curl (LA) – 2 years, worth up to $13 million
29. Xavier McKinney (GB) – 4 years, $68 million
36. Kyle Dugger (NE) – Transition tagged (1 year, $13.8 million)
47. Julian Blackmon (IND) – TBD
48. Geno Stone (CIN) – 2 years, $15 million
71. Jordan Fuller (LA) – TBD
86. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (yes, that’s his real name) (PHI) – 3 years, worth up to $33 million
97. Jordan Whitehead (TB) – 2 years, $9 million

If you take those rankings seriously, by far the best value on that list is Kam Curl. It’s eye-popping value.

Maybe it’s timing. Maybe all the teams that were Serious about signing a Safety had already done so, and the remaining teams were looking at their cap space, and calculating the draft, and just figured, “Nah.” And maybe that left Curl hanging in a bad year to be a FA for safeties. I dunno. But the first 12 hours of information suggest that Lester Snead has done it again.

InvaderRam wrote:

i’m most heartened by the fact that he wanted to be here. he could have tested the market and squeezed some more money out of another team. but he was happy in la. he likes this team. and also. the rams didn’t try to play any games with him. they valued him. they showed that with the contract they offered him. and that was enough for him to just sign the contract and stay and try to build on what he and the team accomplished last season. i think that can only have a positive effect on how dotson and the team approach 2024.

Jonah Jackson said something similar.

His agent called.

“He was like, ‘What do you think of Los Angeles?’ and I was like, ‘Doesn’t sound too shabby,'” Jackson said. “We talked about it. It sounded like the right move – good weather, good place to be, good winning culture, great staff. Everything overall was just a plus, so we couldn’t deny that.”

Jackson acknowledged he had other opportunities to weigh in free agency, but the familiarity – as well as the offer – the Rams presented made it too good to pass up.

“Once I heard the Rams were willing to do what they did and be able to go somewhere and potentially win it all, there was no denying it,” he said. “There were some teams, maybe we could have done some more, but I wanted the perfect balance of being able to set my family up for life and be able to win football games.”

I was hoping the culture would be a draw to FA, and it looks like it is. For some of them, anyway.

wv wrote:

I was a-thinkin maybe the Rams would get Flacco. Who’s gonna be the backup? w v

I haven’t seen Carson Wentz’s name in print in any context whatsoever this offseason.

But he didn’t pull a Baker.

zn wrote:

Yep. I posted info on that just now, in the March 12, 2024 at 10:09 pm post at the end of this thread:

So that must mean I’m living at least 20 minutes in the future.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Zooey.

wv wrote:

Anyway, I cant see how the Eagles can replace Kelce.   I suspect its the biggest single-player loss in the NFL this year.

Some guy on the radio was saying yesterday that Kelce was a locker room leader, and he soured on the coach whatshisface-starts-with-an-S.

In his opinion, losing Kelce was losing the locker room, and that Philly could have their end-of-the-season flameout continue into next year because Coach whatshisface may not get the team back together.