Seahawks compete with Rams who play dangerous game with their trades

Without a doubt, the Los Angeles Rams have improved their quarterback position with the exchange of Matthew Stafford in another season where they face the Seahawks and the rest of a tough NFC West.

O’Neil: Seahawks OC Should Study An All-Pro For How To Use Metcalf

Stafford is a powerful gunslinger who can deliver an attack better than Jared Goff. Critics point to the fact that he took the Detroit Lions to the playoffs three times and is 0-3 in the playoffs, but the reason for those failures is more on the Lions than on Stafford.

Detroit’s rosters weren’t good enough to advance to the playoffs. Since Stafford was drafted by the Lions in 2009, they have placed 31st in the football race. The defense was also not very good during his time there.

Rams head coach Sean McVay will give Stafford a good running offense and better offensive plans, but there could be downsides to this trade. The Rams might be a better team in the playoffs next season, but maintaining a quality lineup could be difficult, and the implications of that trade are brutal.

Sure, the Rams are saving money by moving Goff’s contract to Detroit, but they now have a $ 42.2 million salary cap with Stafford’s $ 20 million salary, and the cap is set to drop. The floor for the 2021 cap is $ 175 million, with most people in the league believing it will be set at around $ 180 million, which is $ 19.2 million lower than the 2020 season.

Anything over 15% of locked-in room to maneuver in a quarterback makes it difficult to maintain players or sign free agents. Stafford’s salary and the dead money the Rams take by sending Goff to Detroit will eat 23.4% of a cap of $ 180 million.

The Rams are currently $ 35 million of a cap of $ 180 million, the third highest in the league. It will be difficult for the Rams to recruit players, and they have 13 unrestricted free agents this offseason. They’ll struggle to keep Leonard Floyd, who was a star in the Seahawks quarterback race Russell Wilson in all three of their meetings this season. They won’t be able to keep their second-best wide receiver, Josh Reynolds. Safety Josh Johnson was a star in high school, and he’s standing. Tight end Gerald Everett is also a free agent.

There could also be an impact along the offensive line. They might struggle to re-sign center Austin Blythe and may have to cut right tackle Rob Havenstein, among others, to get under the cap.

What is clear is that McVay is getting what he wants when it comes to the players. The Rams have been an aggressive team. In their Super Bowl year, they acquired cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib. They then got rid of them and then traded for another star cornerback, Jalen Ramsey.

But there is a dangerous game going on. It’s pretty clear that McVay can turn on a player. He did this with Goff. He did so with wide receiver Brandin Cooks. The Rams went to the Super Bowl two years ago, but they ended the 2020 season with just 24 players remaining from that Super Bowl appearance on the team’s final 53-player roster, with eight starters going on defense.

There has also been a high turnover of coaching staff. Only five coaches remain from McVay’s original staff when he was hired in 2017 after the Seahawks took on passing game coordinator Shane Waldron and assistant offensive line coach Andy Dickerson. acts respectively as the offensive coordinator and the match coordinator.

McVay had good coaches. Matt LeFleur, Zac Taylor and Brandon Staley have all had head coach concerts. But at some point, the bold moves and changes could catch up with the Rams. Goff was a first-round pick in 2016, but after the trade for Stafford, the Rams are ready to skip a first-round pick of the year after Goff was selected until 2023. It’s been seven years .

Like the Seahawks, the Rams have enjoyed compensatory picks for lost starters in free agency. They have four this year plus another third-round compensatory pick they’ll get in 2022 for their college scouting director Brad Holmes who will leave to become Detroit’s general manager.

This puts a lot of pressure on Rams general manager Les Snead to replace the no-pick premium starters. Seahawks general manager John Schneider did his best to keep Seattle at playoff level after a two-year Super Bowl run in 2013 and 2014, but the loss of free agency starters put them on a team. more wild for several years.

Stafford is on contract for two years. He will do well for Los Angeles, but the fight for the Rams will be to keep the talent around him.

Follow John Clayton on Twitter.

More John: Seahawks Joins Trend with Impressive Track Record