There’s nothing like a failed season to spark significant adjustments to a football team.
The Rams, after making it to the playoffs for the first two years of Sean McVay’s career, are out. In an effort to get back in, there could be more than a few tweaks.
An unnamed Rams veteran said after Saturday’s loss to the 49ers that he “expect[s] some major changes around here in the next few months,” via Mike Silver of NFL.com.
Silver, citing multiple unnamed sources, says a “shakeup” to McVay’s staff is coming, echoing the recent report from Alex Marvez of SiriusXM NFL Radio that defensive coordinator Wade Phillips may not return. Silver writes that there also could be “significant turnover” in the personnel department.
On the roster itself, “key players could be traded or released” as the Rams build around quarterback Jared Goff on offense and defensive tackle Aaron Donald on defense.
Silver also mentions the possibility that running back Todd Gurley won’t be back. In June, we pointed out that the Rams have a big decision to make by the middle of March, when another $10.5 million in injury guarantees become full guarantees for Gurley.
Cutting Gurley would trigger a signing bonus acceleration of $12.6 million, however. Gurley’s contract also contains a $7.55 million roster bonus in March 2020, which became fully guaranteed in March 2019. (Of the $7.55 million roster bonus, $5 million is not subject to offset.)
The best outcome for both sides could be an adjustment to the contract that recognizes his current role, even if the reasons for it (bad knee) never get mentioned. Otherwise, the Rams may have to eat more than $20 million in cap space in order to avoid $10.5 million in new guarantees, making it harder to move on -- especially when the Rams will need all the cap space they can get to sign cornerback Jalen Ramsey, for whom they gave up two first-round picks and a fourth-round pick.
Whatever the strategy, the Rams have been applying an all-in approach over the past couple of years. Sometimes when going all in, the cards aren’t there. For 2019, that’s precisely what happened to the Rams.