As of right now, the Los Angeles Rams have the second most expensive offense in football. They are spending $190,704,925 on that side of the ball. That is nearly 75 percent of the total salary cap. They are behind the Cleveland Browns by just $334,522. One small free-agent addition would vault them back to the top of the heap.
These two teams are allocating far more salary cap space to the offense than any other team. The 3rd place team is the Kansas City Chiefs, who are spending about $20 million less than the Rams.
Of course, the converse action of this is skimping on defense. The Rams are dead last in spending on defense. They are spending $82.3 million. And that includes Aaron Donald‘s $25 million cap hit.
Lets take a look at the starting lineup and see how the Rams have allocated their resources on this side of the ball.
Special Thanks to Over the Cap and Spotrac
Los Angeles Rams Offensive Spending
Matthew Stafford:
2024 Cap Hit – $49.5 million
Percent of Cap – 19.3
Matthew Stafford’s cap hit ballooned this season. Last year it was $20 million and in 2022 it was just 13.5 million. Paying quarterbacks is a necessity, so it is hard to quibble with his contract. In the last two years of his contract, Stafford will remain as expensive in the final two years of his deal. He has the third-highest cap hit among all QBs this year.
Cooper Kupp:
2024 Cap Hit – $29.8 million
Percent of Cap – 11.6
Cooper Kupp signed a 3-year $80 million deal after his amazing triple crown winning season. After being sidelined and never seemingly fully recovering from several injuries should see a return to form in 2024. Kupp has the second-highest cap hit among receivers this season.
Rob Havenstein:
2024 Cap Hit – $14.7 million
Percent of Cap – 5.7
2024 is Rob Havenstien’s most expensive year of his contract, from a cap hit perspective, and is signed through 2025, with two voidable years after that. The longest-tenured Ram was also one of the best on the team when it came to pass blocking and made a nice transition from zone-focused blocking to more gap blocking. Despite now being over 30, Havenstein has been healthy missing just five games in the last four seasons. Havenstein has the 5th largest cap hit among right tackles, but his hit reduces drastically over the final years of his contract.
Jonah Jackson:
2024 Cap Hit – $13.7 million
Percent of Cap – 5.3
Jonah Jackson was the team’s big splurge in free agency. They bet big on building an elite offensive line to protect Matthew Stafford and to double down on what was a dominant running game late last season. He will be well worth it (if this experiment works out). Jackson is still in the recovery phase from surgery on a torn meniscus in his knee.
Kevin Dotson:
2024 Cap Hit – $12.7 million
Percent of Cap – 4.9
Kevin Dotson was re-signed by the Rams shortly before they signed Jackson. Dotson was the surprise of the 2023 season, emerging as their best offensive lineman. If he can replicate his success, he is well worth the price tag.
Jackson and Dotson have the 5th and 6th highest cap hits among guards.
Tyler Higbee:
2024 Cap Hit – $12.6 million
Percent of Cap – 4.9
There was no way of knowing that Tyler Higbee’s knee would be destroyed in the final game of the Rams 2023 campaign when they signed him to a 2-year $17 million contract last year. But that is exactly what happened. Even so, Higbee is coming off two bad seasons and will turn 32 at the end of the season, the Rams may have jumped the gun on this one.
Higbee has the 4th-highest cap hit among tight ends.
Alaric Jackson:
2024 Cap Hit – $4.9 million
Percent of Cap – 1.9
Alaric Jackson is the Rams’ first bonafide steal. He earned the starting role and has played adequately in the spot. While having an elite left tackle would make life better for the Rams, that often comes with a steep cost. The Rams roster is top-heavy so sacrifices have to be made.
The Rams signed Jackson to a one-year deal this spring, so he likely isn’t the Rams long-term solution at the position.
Demarcus Robinson:
2024 Cap Hit – $4 million
Percent of Cap – 1.6
Demarcus Robinson was signed to a cheap one-year deal last season and the Rams offered him a little more to stick around for this season. By the end of last season, Robinson proved to be a good third option behind Kupp and Puka Nacua.
Steve Avila/Kyren Williams/Puka Nacua
2024 Cap Hit – $2.1 million/ $1.1/ 976k
Percent of Cap – .8/.4/.4
The Rams hit paydirt in the 2023 draft. A non-first-round starter on a rookie contract is pure gold.
Other Big Contracts:
Joe Noteboom:
2024 Cap Hit – $11.6 million
Percent of Cap – 4.5
Joseph Noteboom was originally signed to be the heir apparent to Andrew Whitworth. He never developed into that talent. The Rams actually renegotiated his contract, taking his cap hit down from $20 million. They painted themselves into a corner betting on Noteboom early, as cutting him would have resulted in bigger dead money and no team would be interested in trading for a bloated contract.
Noteboom is the 16th best-compensated left tackle in the league making him the highest-paid backup in the league. If all things stay the same, the Rams are saddled with him through 2025.
Colby Parkinson:
2024 Cap Hit – $3.7 million
Percent of Cap – 1.4
Colby Parkinson’s addition is a direct response to Higbee’s injury status. If the Rams were confident that Higbee was able to start in Week 1 they could have allocated these resources elsewhere, but it is a small price to pay for some piece of mind.