Will both Kevin Dotson and Jonah Jackson make it to the end of their new contracts?

The Rams are set at guard for the near future, but will these new deals go beyond 2026?

Are Jonah Jackson and Kevin Dotson both going to play the next three seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, if not longer? They certainly both signed three-year contracts this month with the Rams intending to have one of, if not the best interior offensive lines in the NFL. Should the Rams go a step further and draft a potential left tackle like Olu Fashanu or Troy Fautanu in April, L.A. might just flat out have the best offensive line in the entire league for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, to say the least.

However, contract details and recent history with contracts like these ones would at least imply that L.A. is in a “win now” mode with Dotson and Jackson protecting Matthew Stafford in potentially the last fraction of his career.

The Rams gave Dotson and Jackson very similar contracts, for whatever reason having to pay Jackson an additional $1 million per year. As you can see in the deal breakdowns below from Arjun Menon, L.A. has a ton of cash flow going to Dotson and Jackson in the next two seasons…but also a tempting decision to save money if the Rams need to part ways with either of them by 2026, the final year of their new contracts.

Jonah Jackson makes an $8 million base salary in 2024 and $9 million in 2025, with essentially all of it guaranteed. Jackson will get an $8.5 million roster bonus in 2025. In 2026, Jackson has an affordable $9 million salary, which is a bargain if he’s playing at a high level, but L.A. also has a chance to save $17 million against the cap if they decide to move on and didn’t restructure his deal in 2025. Jackson has an $8 million roster bonus due in 2026, which is the point where the Rams must decide how important it is to maintain what they have at guard and center.

It’s also worth nothing that the selection of Steve Avila last year means that he will be up for contract extension talks in 2026, and this would be the point where the Rams can no longer enjoy the rookie contract savings that they get with Avila in 2024, 2025, and 2026.

Dotson’s deal is almost exactly the same as Jackson’s: They have nearly identical cap hits, salaries, and roster bonuses in 2024, 2025, and 2026. So if the Rams decide that they want both Jackson and Dotson to be on the roster in 2026, this means that they will pay them a combined $16 million on roster bonuses, a combined $17 million in base salary, and combined cap hits of $36 million.

I don’t point any of this out to say that the L.A. Rams have to worry about any of this today—or next year—or that signing both Dotson and Jackson was in any way a bad move, or that fans should freak out. It’s not necessarily a negative at all and certainly I understand it is not important today. I point this out for fans to be cognizant on the finer details of contracts and why these two “three-year contracts” are actually two-year contracts with a third-year option. Because of how the Rams are setup on their depth chart and future salary cap considerations, I would be a little surprised if Jackson, Dotson, and Avila are all on their same contracts two years from now.

And to invest more money into Avila, should he continue to develop as an interior lineman like he did as a rookie, Les Snead might need to take some back from one of his new teammates.

For now, the Rams can just be happy that they do have such a fearsome interior trio.