Allen Robinson’s tenure with the Rams only lasted one season after Los Angeles traded him to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday. It wasn’t a completely shocking move considering the Rams granted Robinson permission to seek a trade earlier this offseason, but no one expected his time with the Rams to last only one year.
By making this trade, Los Angeles is eating a ton of dead money, which has been the trend of the offseason. But it also opens up $18.55 million in cap space next year, part of the team’s goal to contend again in 2024.
Here’s what we can take away from the Rams’ latest trade, which only returned a pick-swap in Round 7.
1
Signing him turned out to be a massive mistake
There’s no way around it: Robinson was a huge bust for the Rams, one of the team’s worst free-agent signings in a long time. They gave him a three-year deal worth $46.5 million and now that he’s been traded, we know how much of that contract they paid him.
For one season, Robinson earned $25.75 million from the Rams, going on to catch just 33 passes for 339 yards and three touchdowns. He was limited to 10 games because of a foot injury, which required surgery, but those numbers would look bad even in a six-game sample size.
There were high hopes and a lot of hype for Robinson last summer when he was making great grabs in training camp and looking like his old self, but none of that translated to the regular season.
2
Rams aren’t afraid of dead money
Only one team (the Bucs) has racked up more dead money this offseason than the Rams’ $74.2 million and Robinson makes up a good chunk of that. By trading Robinson and agreeing to pay $10.25 million of his remaining salary, the Rams are taking on a huge dead cap charge.
Robinson will count $21.45 million against the cap this year, $3.4 million more than he would’ve cost the Rams to simply stay on the roster. It’s not often a team moves on from a player in a way that costs more than keeping him, but the Rams have shown they’re not afraid of dead money.
Robinson has the largest dead cap charge on the team, even bigger than Bobby Wagner, Jalen Ramsey and Leonard Floyd – though Floyd and Ramsey are close at $19 and $19.6 million, respectively.
3
Robinson wasn’t fully to blame for his failure in LA
Robinson did not play well in the 10 games he started. There’s no denying that. However, he wasn’t completely at fault for such a down year in 2022. Matthew Stafford didn’t throw at all in OTAs or minicamp, meaning the first time he and Robinson actually got in some meaningful reps was in training camp.
And even then Stafford wasn’t a full-go; he didn’t participate in team drills during training camp, which limited his reps with Robinson.
Secondly, he just didn’t fit well in the Rams’ offense. With his size and physicality, he should be an outside receiver matching up one-on-one against cornerbacks. Instead, he ran a lot of shorter in-breaking routes where he struggled to make plays, particularly after the catch.
There were other ways for the Rams to get Robinson involved but they simply didn’t get it done.
4
It might be Tutu Time (again)
This shouldn’t be seen as a complete vote of confidence for Tutu Atwell, but the fact that the Rams were willing to move on from Robinson could suggest they’re going to give Atwell more opportunities in 2023. An offseason addition at wide receiver is still likely to happen at some point, but the Rams could give Atwell a bigger role in the offense, similar to the way they did late last season when the receiving corps was depleted.
Atwell is nothing like Robinson as a receiver, of course. He’s 6 inches shorter and weighs about 40 pounds less than Robinson, so he’s not going to be a contested-catch specialist the way Robinson is. However, there’s still a role to be had for Atwell. He can stretch the field with his speed, which isn’t something Robinson did much. He can also turn jet sweeps into big gains and hopefully get more chances to catch screen passes with blockers leading the way.
Atwell is entering his third season and it might be time to give him a longer look.
5
Wide receiver is firmly on the table at No. 36
It was already possible that the Rams would take a receiver at No. 36, even before trading Robinson. But now with an even bigger void at that position, there’s an even greater possibility they’ll select a wideout with their first pick.
There’s even a case to be made that it’s a big need. Kupp is under contract in 2024, but Van Jefferson isn’t. And who knows what the future will hold for Atwell. The Rams could use wide receiver help now and in a year or two , so don’t be surprised whatsoever if they end up taking one in the second round.
