A 31-27 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game was considered by the Los Angeles Rams as a missed opportunity because their NFC West divisional rival dominated the New England Patriots to win Super Bowl LX. Once 2025 NFL MVP Matthew Stafford quickly decided to return for an 18th season, the Rams swung for the fences to capitalize.
The only unrestricted free agent of consequence was safety Kam Curl. He was retained on a three-year, $36 million contract, with up to $39 million in salary escalators.
Cornerback, the most glaring roster weakness, was upgraded in a trade and through free agency. Trent McDuffie, who was entering a contract year, was acquired from the Kansas City Chiefs in March. He signed a four-year, $124 million contract extension in connection with the trade, making him the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback at the time. Jaylen Watson, McDuffie’s cornerback counterpart in Kansas City, received a three-year, $51 million deal as an unrestricted free agent.
Another order of business was adjusting Stafford’s contract. As the 2025 NFL MVP, Stafford was still underpaid despite renegotiating the final two years of the four-year, $160 million extension he signed in 2022, which had $58 million remaining, into a two-year, $84 million deal last year. Stafford received a one-year extension for $55 million running through the 2027 season. Incentives make Stafford’s extension worth up to $60 million.
A persistent pursuit of edge rusher Myles Garrett, which began in 2022, finally paid dividends in June. The Cleveland Browns dealt the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year to the Rams for a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, a 2029 third-round pick and edge rusher Jared Verse, who was 2024’s NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
The Garrett acquisition had an unexpected major consequence. His addition inspired defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who was on track to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2029, to unretire.
After winning the offseason, the Rams are heavy favorites to be Super Bowl LXI champions at 5-to-1, according to SportsLine. The Buffalo Bills have the next best odds at 10-to-1, followed by the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks.
How the Rams assembled their Super Bowl-or-bust roster
The Rams assembled a team more reminiscent of a previous era before the salary cap was implemented in 1994. The NFL salary cap is $301.2 million for the 2026 league year. Each team’s actual salary cap (known as adjusted salary cap) is typically different from the NFL’s set amount because unused cap room can be carried over from one year to the next year and other adjustments can further increase or decrease cap space.
The Rams have an adjusted salary cap of $313.324 million. The league-wide average is $317.822 million according to NFLPA data. The New England Patriots have the NFL’s highest adjusted salary cap at $352.979 million, largely thanks to carrying over $47.27 million of cap room, which is easily the most in the league. The Bills have the lowest at $301.58 million, which is only $380,000 above the league-wide number.
The Rams constructed a roster that is top-heavy, salary-cap-wise. Stafford has the 2026 largest cap number at $48,267,348. The only other 2026 cap number above $45 million belongs to Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert with $46.35 million.
Wide receiver Davante Adams and left tackle Alaric Jackson’sJackson have the 25th- and 35th-highest cap numbers in the NFL for 2026. Adams has the third-highest wide receiver figure at $28 million. Jackson’s $25.4 million is fifth among offensive linemen (fourth for an offensive tackle).
Four other Rams have 2026 cap numbers that rank among the 10 highest at their respective positions. Kyren Williams, who signed a three-year, $33 million extension last July, has the third-biggest running back cap number at $11.7 million. Coleman Shelton’s $9.5 million is fourth for a center. Kevin Dotson’s $17.4 million is the seventh-largest offensive guard cap hit. Colby Parkinson has the ninth-highest tight end cap figure ($9.1 million).
The collective $48 million average yearly salary of McDuffie and Watson for the upgrade at cornerback is the NFL’s second-highest, behind only the Indianapolis Colts tandem of Sauce Gardner and Charvarius Ward at $48.1 million. McDuffie’s and Watson’s combined $17.8 million 2026 cap hit is smaller than Ward’s alone ($19.9 million). Their cap figures will jump significantly in 2027. McDuffie’s will be a cornerback, high $30.8 million, while Watson’s $22.7 million ranks 10th.
Garrett had five years worth $179 million remaining on his contract when acquired. His contract was almost immediately reworked. Instead of making $31.5 million in 2026, his salary was raised to $37 million, with $35.7 million converted into a signing bonus that would be prorated at $7.14 million annually against the salary cap from 2026 through 2030. His 2026 cap number is $8,840,680.
Garrett’s 2027 compensation drops from $42.7 million to $32 million, while his 2028 money increases to $30 million from $24.8 million. His compensation for 2029 and 2030 remains at $40 million in each year.
There are two separate option bonuses, each for $15 million in 2027, to pick up dummy/voiding 2031 and 2032 contract years. Because this $30.145 million is being prorated on the salary cap from 2027 through 2031 at $6.029 million annually, Garrett’s 2027 cap hit is $15.024 million. Given the market for elite pass rushers has changed dramatically since Garrett became the NFL’s first $40 million per year non-quarterback in March 2025, it wouldn’t be surprising for his deal to be renegotiated as early as next year.
The Rams had more than $15 million in existing cap space, according to NFLPA data, when Donald decided to come out of retirement on August 30. The Rams had retained his contractual rights when he retired after the 2023 season by placing him on the reserve/retired list. The remaining year left on his contract tolled or was frozen.
Because of some creative salary cap maneuvering when Donald retired in 2024, the Rams easily handled his contract upon reinstatement without anymore salary cap gymnastics. Donald’s 2026 salary was just his league minimum $1.3 million before he and the Rams agreed on a one-year, $20 million deal worth a maximum of $30 million through incentives.
The $20 million is composed of a fully guaranteed $10 million base salary and $10 million in per-game roster bonuses, with $666,666.67 for each game on the 53-man roster, capped at 15 games. The $10 million in incentives is primarily tied to Donald’s playtime and the Rams’ postseason success. Donald gets $2.5 million if he has at least 15% of the defensive snaps in the regular season and the Rams make the playoffs. There’s $1.25 million on the Rams’ active roster for the wild card game or if a bye is earned for that playoff round. Being on the active roster for a divisional playoff game is worth another $1.25 million. Donald gets $2.5 million each for an NFC Championship Game win and a Super Bowl win, provided his regular-season defensive playtime reached 15% and he took at least 20% of the defensive snaps in the requisite game.
Technically, Donald is under contract for 2027 at his $1.345 million league minimum salary, and there are dummy/voiding 2028 through 2030 contract years. Donald has a $5.826 million 2026 cap number because his low 2027 salary triggered an obscure salary cap rule, the 50% Down Rule. Since Donald’s second-year salary in 2027 is less than half of his first-year salary in 2026, the difference between the two salaries, including the $3.75 million of Donald’s incentives classified as likely to be earned, is being treated as a signing bonus and prorated over these five years. As a result, Donald’s 2026 cap number consists of $1.3 million categorized as base salary and $4.481 million as bonus proration. The $4.481 million of bonus proration applies to 2027 as well as each of the dummy/voiding 2028 through 2030 contract years.
Why Los Angeles must create more space soon
The NFLPA lists the Rams as having $10.43 million of 2026 cap space under offseason accounting rules, where only the top 51 salaries (i.e., salary cap numbers) matter. The cap room is illusory because salary cap accounting switches on September 9 where every player under contract including those on the reserve list and the practice squad counts. The Rams are tracking to be $1.715 million over the salary cap by NFLPA calculations when the offseason accounting expires.
Stafford and Adams, who are in contract years, are the most logical contract restructure candidates to free up 2026 cap space because of their respective $16 million and $18 million 2026 base salaries. The Rams may want to leave Adams’ contract alone, although as much as $13.36 million of cap room could be created, provided dummy/voiding years running through 2030 are added in the process. The Rams would have $17.36 million in dead money, a salary cap charge for a player no longer on the team’s roster, for Adams in 2027, considering there is already $4 million of bonus proration in Adams’ existing dummy/voiding 2027 contract year.
Doing the salary conversion with Stafford instead would generate up to $11.76 million of 2026 cap room. Stafford’s 2027 cap number would increase by $2.94 million from $31.6 million to $34.54 million, given the number of dummy/voiding years existing in his contract.
The Rams had a stellar 2023 draft class. Unfortunately, offensive guard Steve Avila, wide receiver Puka Nacua, defensive tackle Kobie Turner, and edge rusher Byron Young, who have respective $4.6 million, $5.8 million, $4.2 million, and $6 million 2026 cap numbers, are probably going to play out their rookie contracts because of salary cap constraints.
Stafford’s succession and the decisions looming in 2027
Anything less than hosting the Lombardi Trophy will be a disappointment for the Rams this season with the infusion of talent. The Rams should be positioned to make another championship run in 2027, regardless of how this season turns out. The NFLPA has the Rams with the fifth-fewest 2027 cap commitments at $235.303 million, where 35 players are under contract. The league average, according to the NFLPA, is $288.812 million with 41 players (rounded to the nearest whole number) under contract.
Re-signing choices will likely need to be made with the 2023 draft class. Nacua is a prime franchise tag candidate. Next year’s wide receiver tag should be in the neighborhood of $29 million, depending on where the 2027 salary cap is set. Without off-the-field issues, Nacua would probably already be the league’s highest-paid wide receiver ahead of Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who received a four-year, $168.6 million contract averaging $42.15 million per year from the Seahawks in March.
Things should get interesting for the Rams in 2028. That’s the logical time for Stafford to hang up his football cleats, given how his contract is structured. Stafford has an unsecured $100 million 2029 base salary that becomes fully guaranteed without an offset in March 2028 on the 10th of the 2028 league year. The Rams will be contending with $57 million in dead money by parting ways with Stafford before the $100 million becomes secured. The dead money would be taken over two years with $21.6 million in 2028 and $35.4 million in 2029 with use of the post-June 1 designation.
The Rams were criticized for selecting quarterback Ty Simpson with the 2026 13th overall pick, partly due to a Super Bowl-or-bust mentality this season. There’s a school of thought that the best time to draft a quarterback is when one isn’t desperately needed. Simpson will be entering his third NFL season in 2028 with a $6,930,588 cap number. If Simpson demonstrates he can be the successor to Stafford, the Rams will be able to extend a championship window open since he will have a modest cap number in 2029, the fourth year of his rookie contract, and the first couple of years of any contract extension he signs.
