Fans of the Los Angeles Rams can take a couple of days to bask in the the sunshine atop the NFC West and the afterglow of knocking off their two top competitors (Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers) in successive weeks. Before taking off the shades and picking up the lounge chair to get ready for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, let’s take a look ahead. Not past tough matchup with the Bucs, but rather a day trip to next season and how the roster and salary cap sets up.
Will the team be relatively similar
to this year’s successful group or are wholesale changes on the horizon?
The three major categories for this exercise are free agency, 2026 roster under contract, and salary cap. While it’s always fun to speculate on the list of big name free agents, let’s limit it instead to which Rams are set to hit market. Then on to who’s under contract for 2026 and close on estimating the salary cap and where it could be spent.
Free agency primer
Unrestricted free agent – Players with four or more accrued seasons are allowed to negotiate and sign with all teams. To accrue a season, players must be on a team’s roster for at least six games in a season.
Restricted free agent – Players with three accrued NFL seasons. Can negotiate with any team, but as a protection, the Rams team may place a “tender” (Rd. 1, Rd.2, original Rd., or right of last refusal) on these players and receive that compensation if said players leave. If the players do not receive a tender by the league’s first official day of business (mid-March 2026) they become unrestricted free agents.
Exclusive rights free agent – Players with two or fewer accrued seasons. As long as the Rams submit a qualifying offer (league minimum based on players service) these players are locked to the team. No other options. These qualifying offers must made before the league’s first official day of business.
Rams 2026 free agents
Regular starters in bold.
QB Jimmy Garappolo (UFA)
RB Ronnie Rivers (UFA)
WR Tutu Atwell (UFA), Xavier Smith (ERFA)
TE Tyler Higbee (UFA)
OL Rob Havenstein (UFA), DJ Humphries (UFA), David Quessenberry (UFA), Justin Dedich (ERFA)
LS Jake McQuaide (UFA)
DL Larrell Murchison (UFA), Keir Thomas (RFA)
ILB Nate Landman (UFA), Troy Reeder (UFA)
S Kamren Curl (UFA), Quentin Lake (UFA)
CB Ahkello Witherspoon (UFA), Cobie Durant (UFA), Roger McCreary (UFA)
That’s five FA’s who have been recent Rams defensive starters. Stay, or go? Landman has certainly been a huge value at $1.1mil, so he’s in line for big raise, yet the Rams wouldn’t pay Ernest Jones $10 mil per just two years ago. While the secondary players have all been serviceable to good, are any of the five “must haves”? Would the L.A. defense be improved and take another step up with their return? Or have they reached their ceilings and need to be replaced?
On the offensive side, it might be the right time to say goodbye to two long-time vets. Higbee and Havenstein seem to battle injuries regularly and while the heart is still there, the giddy-up has passed. Atwell is quite expensive if you compare production per dollar spent.
In theory, the Rams could separate themselves from all. I could probably make a case for a few of the lower-tier players at, or just above, the salary minimum as special teams fodder. Jimmy G is fairly compensated for his experience as QB#2.
37 Rams under contract for 2026
Starters in bold.
QB Matthew Stafford, Stetson Bennett
RB Kyren Williams, Blake Corum. Jarquez Hunter
WR Davante Adams, Puka Nacua, Jordan Whittington, Konata Mumpfield
TE Colby Parkinson, Terrance Ferguson, Davis Allen
C Coleman Shelton, Beaux Limmer
G Kevin Dotson, Steve Avila
T Alaric Jackson, Warren McClendon
ST Ethan Evans, Josh Karty
DT Poona Ford, Braden Fiske, Kobie Turner, Tyler Davis, Ty Hamilton
E Jared Verse, Byron Young, Josiah Stewart, Nick Hampton, Desjuan Johnson
ILB Omar Speights, Shaun Dolac
S Kamren Kinchens, Josh Wallace, Jaylen McCollough
CB Darious Williams, Emmanuel Forbes
Free agent capital: $82,020,597
Since the actual numbers haven’t been released yet, the 2026 salary cap is speculative. I figured it, conservatively to match with average raises have been since 2021, to be around $305 to $309 mil. Spotrac.com has it at $307,120 mil, so I’ll just quote them instead of crunching all the numbers.
Debits: $307,120,000 projected 2026 salary cap + $9,370,588 rollover from 2025 comes to $316, 370,588
Credits: $218,072,663 roster salary 2026 + $556,553 dead money + 15,720,775 estimated rookie pool (per overthecap.com) comes to $234,349,991
Debits – Credits: $82,020,597 estimated available cap space
In reality, before the free agency period, the Rams will ink 15 players, give or take, from this year’s practice squad to reserve/futures contracts, thus trimming that spending cash down $10-12 mil. But it still leaves a tidy sum to go after difference making free agents.
Building out the 2026 90-man roster scenario
37 players currently under contract + 15 reserve/futures signees + 8 draft picks (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 7) + 16 undrafted rookies + 14 veteran free agents (both outside and re-sign’s).
Outlook
If you’re a Rams fan, things look rosy going forward. This year’s 8-2 team is atop the NFC West and commands its own destiny. It is not only competitive, talent-wise, with the best the league has to offer, but will return a very strong base of that talent next year. The Rams roster carry over from 2024 to 2025 was 76% and they appear to be close to hitting that same number from this year to next. Year-to-year continuity and retention from a good base provides for consistently strong product.
Pairing the continuity with potential upgrades offered by two Round 1 draft picks and a pocket full of cash offers the potential of keeping the Super Bowl window open for the next five years.
