EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The Los Angeles Rams have plenty of money to spend this offseason.
Now that the NFL has reportedly set the 2016 NFL salary cap at $155.27 million, a jump of nearly $12 million from last year, the Rams and the rest of the NFL have more than an estimate of what they'll be working with when the new league year opens on March 9.
For the Rams, that amount is substantial. Including their 2015 cap carryover of $933,521, the Rams' 2016 total cap number comes in at $156,203,521. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Rams have $91,179,797 committed toward players under contract for 2016 and another $6,512,714 in dead money.
Adding the committed money and the dead money and subtracting it from the cap number leaves the Rams with a whopping $58,511,010 in salary-cap space. Releasing tight end Jared Cook, linebacker James Laurinaitis and defensive end Chris Long saved the team about $24 million in cap space.
With that much room to spend, the Rams figure to be extremely active in free agency, but it's likely that most of that spending will be used to keep their own free agents. It's also entirely possible they could use the franchise or transition tag to keep one of their prized cornerbacks before free agency begins.
In addition to their unrestricted free agents, the Rams have tender offers to make to their restricted and exclusive rights free agents, such as quarterback Case Keenum, who is restricted. They're also working to get deals done with ascending players closing in on the end of their rookie deals such as defensive tackle Michael Brockers and linebacker Alec Ogletree.
So while the Rams are loaded with room to operate, it's best to manage expectations when it comes to some sort of wild shopping spree when the business of the new league year actually begins.