Los Angeles Rams Projected Win Total Suggests Further Struggles
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The Los Angeles Rams could be in for another rough season as their roster remodeling is underway. So far, the Rams haven't made many additions outside of the Jalen Ramsey trade to the Miami Dolphins, which saw tight end Hunter Long arrive in exchange.
DraftKings released their NFL win totals for all 32 teams, which seems to suggest that they, too, believe the Rams will struggle in 2023. DraftKings set the over/under for the Rams at 7.5 games, which, if they met that expectation, would be a two-win improvement from last season.
But the roster "remodeling" has thus far seen the Rams offload players on big salaries in an effort to get back into a manageable financial situation which was a consequence of their all-out moves in order to win a Super Bowl.
But eating that proverbial bullet this offseason seems to mean that 2023 will be a continuation of last season, where the Rams finished at 5-12.
The Rams traded Ramsey while cutting Bobby Wagner and Leonard Floyd, which has helped them acquire $50 million in dead cap space. They've also lost other contributors like safety Taylor Rapp and defensive tackle A'Shawn Robinson without being able to replace them.
This model is similar to what the Atlanta Falcons had to do in the first few years under general manager Terry Fontenot.
The Falcons were burdened by aging veterans on expensive deals, so in order to get back under the cap, they offloaded those big contracts, acquiring lots of dead money in the process.
But as it showed this offseason their over $60 million in cap space allowed them to spend big in free agency as they hope to move past the latter stages of a rebuild.
It looks like the Rams may be trying to replicate this formula of eating dead money in the short term to reap larger rewards in the long term.
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