It’s no secret that the Los Angeles Rams have spent minimal capital on the defensive side of the ball over the past two seasons. The team cleared a bunch of cap on that side of the ball last year when the traded and cut Jalen Ramsey and Leonard Floyd. They replaced those players with rookies and very cheap free agents.

Despite having cap space this year to spend on defense this offseason, the Rams once again threw money at the offense. Offensive guards Jonah Jackson and Kevin Dotson were the big signings in free agency.

Not only did the Rams not spend in free agency on defense, but they also lost their highest paid defensive player to retirement in Aaron Donald. As it stands, the Rams have $66M in defensive spending according to OverTheCap. However, $24.9M of that is still allocated towards Donald. Taking away Donald, the Rams are only spending $41.1M on defense so far in 2024.

The next closest team with the least amount of defensive spending is the Kansas City Chiefs at $76.6M. Using the $41.1M number that removes Donald from the equation, the gap between the Rams at 32 and Chiefs at 31 would be the same as the Chiefs at 31 and Washington Commanders at 9 who have spent just under $112.1M.

Right now, the highest-paid player on the Rams defense is Darious Williams. Williams is set to account for $4.6M against the cap. That’s slightly higher than Kam Curl at $4.2M. Even if the Rams draft defense at 19 overall, that player will only count for $3M against the cap. General manager Les Snead would need to trade into the top-10 at number seven for the rookie first-round pick to be the highest-paid defensive player on the roster. The number seven overall pick is set to have a cap-hit of $5.3M.

It feels like at some point the Rams have to allocate some resources into the defensive side of the ball. Again, without account for Donald, they are $35M behind the team ahead of them in the defensive spending rankings. A first-round pick would be a good start to adding on that side of the ball, but even that’s not a guarantee.