Trumaine Johnson and the Rams have been doing a dance for the last few months that has an inevitable conclusion both parties should acknowledge. Its understandable that Trumaine Johnson wants to receive the maximum amount of money he feels he’s worth and believes will be there in free agency. For the Rams, they want this extension done because they want to lower his cap hit and have an easier road in extending Alec Ogletree and more importantly, Aaron Donald.
Johnson was tagged for the second straight year giving him a cap hit for this season at a little over $17 million dollars and will be an unrestricted free agent next season. In another year, this negotiation might have a different outcome but the fact is that Trumaine Johnson doesn’t have the leverage or value he and his agent may feel they have.
When the Rams tagged Johnson it was believed that they could possibly find a trade partner and acquire some much needed draft capital but that ship has sailed. Not only did corner starved teams like Miami and Dallas find fixes in free agency but two higher profile corners have been made available on the trade market.
Malcolm Butler was originally supposed to be part of the trade that sent Brandin Cooks to the Patriots but those talks stalled. Butler is still working out an extension of his own with the Patriots who have proven in the past to never pay above the sticker price on anyone so Butler could still be on the move.
The Seahawks also made Richard Sherman available because they want to lower their payroll so that’s two Super Bowl winning corners that would get teams on the phone quicker than Trumaine Johnson would. They would also come at a lower cost than Johnson due to the cap hit that comes with being tagged twice.
Johnson had only one interception last year and his performance will depend on how well he grasps Wade Phillips’ new system this season. What makes matters tougher for him is that even a team with a ton of cap room and a need at corner like the Cleveland Browns or Tennessee Titans don’t have the desperation to trade for Johnson because they can always take a corner or two in this year’s draft both of which would combine for less salary than one year of Trumaine Johnson.
Its possible he uses this season to raise his stock and actually incite other teams to bid on him, or he has a season comparable to last season and now the Rams realize they’re only bidding against themselves. Right now is the best possible time for Trumaine Johnson to get an extension because without him things are pretty thin in the secondary for the Rams and no significant on the field activities have occurred yet so his potential is still at a theoretical high point.
The Rams and Trumaine Johnson have until July 15th to settle this otherwise that $17 million goes on the books and makes it tougher for the Rams to either add anything else to their roster or extend their upcoming defensive studs. Trumaine Johnson should accept whatever long term deal the Rams offer him because the Rams are the only team that will likely pay him anything in the neighborhood of what he thinks he’s worth.
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