Rams Rumors: A potential trade package for Todd Gurley from Buccaneers

The latest Los Angeles Rams rumors indicate that the team wants to move on from Todd Gurley and a great trade exists with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The biggest Los Angeles Rams rumors in quite some time have emerged as Todd Gurley could be traded by the team this offseason.

There was prior speculation that trading Gurley could be something that the Rams were interested in, although it never made it past the speculation phase. His contract and the concerns around his workload made him a viable trade chip on paper.

That speculation turned into actual Rams rumors on Monday as Michael Silver of NFL Network reported that Gurley’s name has come up in trade discussions already and that the Rams might be ready to move on (h/t Bleacher Report).

Trading Gurley might not be as easy of a feat as some fans may think. Paying running backs is already not a traditional move and Gurley has a combined $30.45 million cap hit the next two seasons.

There is a potential out in Gurley’s contract after the 2021 season and if it is not exercised he will have a combined $26.8 million cap hit the following two years. Exercising the out would carry over $4.2 million in dead cap for the 2022 season.

The Rams would still retain some of that dead cap if they trade Gurley as well. Gurley would cost $12.6 million in dead cap. Right now, he is slated for a $17.25 million cap space hit, so the Rams would need to bring in someone that makes less than $4.65 million to truly save money.

The purpose in trading Gurley would not be so much to save money this offseason but to save money in the future. However, with very limited cap space, the Rams cannot afford to end up paying more for a Gurley trade just to free him up.

Simply put, the team needs to find a team that would be willing to trade for Gurley and take up a lot of salary cap space in order to do so. The one team that might be willing is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Buccaneers do not have a great running game as Ronald Jones has not found his full potential in the league. More importantly, the team has an estimated $66 million in cap space, even after franchise tagging Shaquil Barrett.

Most importantly, Bruce Arians and the Bucs have been linked to Tom Brady in free agency. If the team is going to bring Brady in, they are going to need to bring more weapons and what better of a weapon than Todd Gurley.

Yes, there are concerns around his health and that is the entire reason why the Rams would be looking to trade him but the Bucs would likely look past that. If adding Gurley and his salary is the cost of Tom Brady then the front office would probably jump at that.

Here is a cross-sports example: the Los Angeles Clippers way overspent for Paul George, trading seven draft picks for George. George is a great player, he is an all-star, but he is not worth seven draft picks.

The reason? The team needed to trade for him to get Kawhi Leonard. The same principle here applies.

The Bucs would have enough salary-cap space to bring in Gurley as well as Brady on a $30 million contract and still have some wiggle room with the draft and free agency, not a lot, but some.

So what would the Bucs send in return? Ronald Jones and a second-round pick. Jones may not be on the level of Gurley, but he is a young running back with fresh legs that has the hometown narrative as he is a former USC Trojan.

Sure, the Rams would not have Gurley, but they could run a running back by committee of Jones, Darrell Henderson and Malcolm Brown. That is not a bad situation, whatsoever. A second-round pick might not seem like enough, but you have to consider that the most important part of this is the money that is freed up, not what is sent in return.

It will be interesting to see how these Los Angeles Rams rumors develop and whether or not the Bucs become a legitimate destination for Gurley. On paper, it is a fantastic fit.