St. Louis Rams: Salary cap compliance day

Wednesday, at 4pm, is the deadline for teams to comply with the change in salary cap accounting rules. All 32 teams must be under their Adjusted Salary Cap Space figure by that time.

During the off season, only the top 51 contracts - and dead money, count against the salary cap. From today forward, all contracts (including those of players on reserve lists), count against the cap. In my cap space update last week (link), I suggested the Rams were very tight in cap space - and needed to create approximately 2.7 million in cap room. They appear to have accomplished just that.

I am still learning the exact details of what has transpired - and will do a complete salary cap update once all of the details are known. Here are the transactions that have occurred in the last 24 hours:

1. The Rams released Jo-Lonn Dunbar. His total cap hit for 2013 (before any earned incentives) was 1.8 million. The Rams cap savings are his base salary of 1.3 million. His 500,000 pro-rated signing bonus will count against the cap for 2013 as dead money.
2. The Rams have restructured Harvey Dahl's contract. The resulting cap savings for 2013 will be 1.25 million.
3. The extension given to Eugene Sims resulted in a cap savings of 433,181 for 2013.
4. The savings from Dahl's and Sims' contracts are the result of converting base salary to pro-rated signing bonuses.

These moves result in the Rams creating just shy of 3 million in cap space. That should be enough to cover all contingencies throughout the season [ such as paying for the practice squad - and injury replacements] - and ensure compliance with today's deadline. Stay tuned for the complete cap space update - in the next few days.

As I have said many times before, the Rams are in good hands with Mr. Kevin Demoff.

Source: NFLPA