DeAndre Hopkins release shows Rams didn’t get poor value with offseason moves

The Los Angeles Rams and general manager Les Snead have taken a lot of criticism this offseason when it comes to some of the moves that have been made and how they’ve gone about it.

After three consecutive seasons of nine sacks, the Rams outright released Leonard Floyd, getting no value in return. The same can be said about Bobby Wagner who had an all-pro season with the Rams last season. Wagner was released and then signed with the Seahawks very shortly after hitting the open market.

It’s hard to fathom that the Rams didn’t even get as much as a future seventh-round pick for either of those players.

When the Rams traded Jalen Ramsey to the Miami Dolphins, they got a third-round pick and depth tight end in Hunter Long.

Whether it’s doing right by the player or unable to find sufficient value, it’s hard pill to swallow when the Rams get nothing or very little in return for star players. Of course, it’s more complicated than simply saying that the Rams only got a third-round pick and Long for Ramsey. With contracts involved, it can be difficult to move on or offload a player.

The Rams have been forced to take less or nothing for other players such as Jared Goff, Todd Gurley, Marcus Peters, Brandin Cooks and others because of the contracts involved.

There’s no better recent example of this than the Arizona Cardinals outright releasing wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins on Friday. With two years and $60M left on Hopkins’ contract, the Cardinals were unable to trade their star wide receiver and instead will eat $22.6M in dead cap.

This is a case where multiple things can be true at once. It may be fair to say that the Rams haven’t gotten optimal value when it comes to offloading some of their star players. That’s especially the case when they have arguably overpaid to get those stars in the first place.

However, at the same time, Snead and co. have probably received too much criticism when it comes to what they’ve received in the trades to offload these players.

When it comes to the trade value, the contract of the player is rarely taken into consideration when discussing the return. However, in a salary cap era, that’s very much part of the equation.

If the end goal is to just get the contract off of the books as was the case with Floyd, Wagner, and others, then the Rams accomplished their goal. If they can manage to get picks in return, it can be considered an added bonus.

With the current state of the Cardinals, it’s not necessarily a good thing to be compared to how that organization takes care of business. Still, in the example of Hopkins’ release, it also shows that the Rams didn’t get as poor of value as initially thought with the moves that they have made this offseason.