Rams free agents: The 9 decisions L.A. must make on offense

Should the Rams keep these nine players on offense and special teams?

The L.A. Rams got a salary cap boost when the NFL announced a rise to $255 million in 2024. That puts the Rams at roughly $40 million in cap space going into free agency with their first set of decisions coming with the players they already have, and L.A. already made one decision by re-signing Demarcus Robinson for $5 million.

What will they do with their other nine free agents on offense and special teams?

I see a guard who might not be as expensive as the projections are telling you, very important decisions to make at kicker and backup QB so that L.A. doesn’t want to get wrong again, and a Super Bowl hero tight end who finally must go.

RG Kevin Dotson

He’s the Rams free agent who gets the most attention, deservedly so, but I can’t honestly say I understand the projections of him making $18 million per season. Throw PFF out, Dotson is not Zack Martin, the Cowboys potential Hall of Fame right guard who makes $18 million per season. Yes, the Falcons gave Chris Lindstrom a contract that pays him $20.5 million per season, but he’s a former top-15 pick who they had developed for four years and watched him turn into an All-Pro.

Dotson wasn’t even a starter at the beginning of 2023. And he proved to be a valuable member of the offensive line, arguably the most valuable, but is he better than Brandon Scherff ($16.5m per year) and Wyatt Teller ($14.2m per year)?

Essentially, you’ve got Lindstrom at the top, then a small gap until Martin, then another gap until Scherff, then another gap until Teller. Those are the top-4. Then you’ve got Shaqu Mason at $11.6 million per season. So tell me how we got from Mason is the fifth-highest paid right guard and he makes $11.6 million per season and now Dotson makes $18 million per season.

I think some people might be getting confused by the fact that the franchise tag doesn’t differentiate between guards and tackles and assume that because the tag is $19 million, then that’s what Dotson gets on the open market.

I say you take the $10-$11 million threshold for a second tier guard, you bump it 5% because of the increased salary cap, and maybe Dotson makes $12 million per season. So that’s like a three-year, $36 million or four-year, $48 million contract. Realistically, it would mean that the Rams sign Dotson for two years and roughly $24-$26 million.

If I’m wrong and Dotson actually gets as much as ZACK MARTIN, then by all means the Rams have to let him go. I think the contract projection are unrealistic though.

QB Carson Wentz

Did Carson Wentz do enough in his 70 snaps with the Rams to improve his standing as a free agent who nobody could come to terms with in the 2023 offseason? Wentz will have to wait until the dust settles on the QB carousel to find out because he won’t be anybody’s top priority as backups and several starters move around the league over the next three weeks.

It’s hard to imagine Wentz being given an opportunity to compete to start because nobody did that a year ago and he won’t be anybody’s first choice as a starter or a backup. Most likely, he’s looking for the same opportunity he got with the Rams, which was to be a backup who might not be a disaster if the starter goes down and that’s basically what he did in his lone start against the Niners second-string defense.

Remember, even L.A. told themselves they wanted to make it work with Stetson Bennett, then turned to Brett Rypien when they couldn’t, before they made it to Wentz. Won’t teams prefer to take shots at Joe Flacco among the veterans and Sam Howell among younger players before they think that Wentz is an option? There aren’t that many jobs and there are too many QBs who are presumed to be about as good as Wentz. It seems like the biggest barrier with Wentz is that he couldn’t accept that he wasn’t a starter anymore.

Jameis Winston has consistently been a backup who makes $4 million per season. Can Wentz get $4 million? Probably not yet.

The leverage Wentz has is that the Rams don’t want to experience a repeat of the John Wolford, Bryce Perkins, Stetson Bennett, or Brett Rypien stints. The leverage that the Rams have is that they might still want to draft someone and he’ll be younger, potentially have a higher ceiling, and be signed for the next four years on a rookie deal.

I wouldn’t expect an answer on Wentz in March, he could be waiting until April, at least. Unless he was so disturbed by his time off last year that he’ll take the first vet minimum offer that he gets.

TE Brycen Hopkins

Ask yourself if you think the Rams should sign Charlie Woerner or Stephen Sullivan in free agency and if the answer is, “No. What the heck are you talking about? I’ve never even heard of them!” Just remember that they were also tight ends picked in 2020 and they have basically the same career numbers as Hopkins. Actually, Woerner has played in a lot more games and has proven to be a blocker for the 49ers so he’s probably much more valuable than Hopkins.

If you’re talking about someone like Josiah Deguara, a third round pick of the Packers in 2020, now it’s a tight end who has way more catches and yards than Hopkins. And I don’t think many fans have heard of Deguara either.

We know Brycen Hopkins because he’s on the Rams. If he wasn’t on the Rams, the mention of signing Hopkins would be “Who? Why? What’s he done?” Not a whole lot.

Strangely, Hopkins was drafted in the fourth round in part because he seemed like a high-floor player who had a very talented former NFL left tackle as a father (Brad Hopkins) and so at least he would know how to play the position and block. Unfortunately, Hopkins hasn’t had much of a career outside of coming through in the Super Bowl when Tyler Higbee was inactive.

There isn’t much point of bringing back Hopkins. The Rams now have Davis Allen and Hunter Long and would be better off starting the clock over by drafting another tight end in 2024.

K Brett Maher

I’m adding a kicker here because special teams does score points and technically gets an offensive snap. I’m not adding Maher because the Rams should bring him back.

The nightmare at the position continues. Maher, Lucas Havrisik, Mason Crosby, not to mention the undrafted free agents from last offseason.

Will the Rams spend to fortify the position in 2024? Probably not.

RB Royce Freeman

Freeman joined the team after the season started and finished second in carries and yards: 77 for 319, 4.1 YPC. The 28-year-old is at the stage of his running back career where there’s no guarantee he’ll ever play again regardless of whether or not he did what he was asked to do by the Rams.

There will just be another running back who can do it but is younger and cheaper.

G Tremayne Anchrum

It’s a credit to Anchrum that as a seventh round pick he still outlasted Cam Akers, Van Jefferson, Terrell Lewis, Terrell Burgess, Clay Johnston, and Sam Sloman.

Anchrum played 96 snaps on offense and 80 on special teams. Maybe Sean McVay will want to bring him back because he is only 25 and has had four years in the system.

LS Carson Tinker

He joined the team at the end of the year after Alex Ward went on IR with a stinger. Presumably the plan would be to go back to Ward if he can continue his career.

LT A.J. Jackson (RESTRICTED)

The Rams would most likely put the first or second round tender on Jackson because to be fair when you make a guy your starting left tackle, you are making a commitment to him. That is unless L.A. doesn’t want Jackson to be the LT next season, in which case they might put the original round tender on him and risk letting him sign with a different team in free agency.

The short explanation is that the first round tender costs the Rams over $6 million for one season, the original round is just under $3 million. If a team signs Jackson and he has the first or second round tender, L.A. gets a first or second round pick in return. I can’t imagine a team will give up a first round pick for A.J. Jackson.

Maybe they split the difference and give Jackson the second round tender. That would cost the Rams $4.9 million for Jackson in 2024. It’s still really cheap, even if Jackson lost a competition and became the backup. Essentially they’re taking the cap space they gain by releasing Joe Noteboom and giving it to Jackson.

WR Austin Trammel (ERFA)

Basically, an ERFA gets a million bucks for a year of football. Trammell was the team’s punt returner last season and he wasn’t necessarily memorable in that role but that can be a good thing. He played 73 snaps on offense. I’m still just happy that three years ago Trammell was the one UDFA I wrote about before the draft as someone I thought L.A. should go get and they did and he’s still with the Rams.