With very little cap space to work with, the Los Angeles Rams made a move to free up a bunch of money. They restructured Cooper Kupp’s contract, which opened up $10.44 million in spending money this year.
While it’s possible they’ll use that newfound cap space to sign a veteran free agent, it’s more likely that they’ll simply hold onto it in order to have some roster flexibility when it comes to practice squad promotions and in-season signings.
Restructuring a player’s contract seems like a simple way to create cap space, but it does come with a price. It increases the player’s cap hits in future years, thus reducing the amount of space the team has down the road – all depending on how many years are left on the contract.
For Kupp, he’s signed through 2026, so the Rams were able to prorate the salary they converted into a signing bonus across three future years. According to Over The Cap, the Rams now have $10.75 million in cap space after restructuring Kupp’s contract. That’s still the 12th-lowest in the NFL for this year, however.
As for Kupp’s contract, his cap hit was lowered by $10.44 million in 2023 and increased by $3.48 million in each of the next three years. Not that the Rams plan to move on from him before his contract expires, but doing so just got a little bit more costly if they were to cut or trade Kupp.
Here’s a look at his old and new cap hits, as well as his dead cap charges if he were to be cut, according to Spotrac.
| Before | After | Net change | Dead cap | |
| 2023 | $27.8M | $17.36M | -$10.44M | $64.4M |
| 2024 | $26.3M | $29.78M | +$3.48M | $47.04M |
| 2025 | $26.3M | $29.78M | +$3.48M | $17.26M |
| 2026 | $23.85M | $27.33M | +$3.48M | $7.48M |
The Rams were more willing to restructure the contract of a player like Kupp because he’s expected to remain in Los Angeles for the long haul, which may not be the case for someone like Tyler Higbee or even Aaron Donald, who could retire after the 2023 season.
If Kupp plays out the remainder of his contract, there will be no added cost of this restructuring for the Rams.
