{"id":841667,"date":"2026-03-29T21:25:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T21:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/841667\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T21:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T21:25:15","slug":"rams-most-overpaid-player-is-their-9-1-million-te-highlighting-gm-masterclass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/841667\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams’ most overpaid player is their $9.1 million TE highlighting GM masterclass"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Rams<\/a> are coming off a disappointing 2025 season, from the standpoint that, had the beat the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> in the NFC Championship, they likely would’ve won the Super Bowl over the New England Patriots<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Matthew Stafford is returning, and the Rams are able to go all-in in 2026. With a team going all-in for the short-term, it might seem reasonable to expect there to be major overpaid players on the roster.<\/p>\n

However, Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report<\/a> couldn’t find a clear overpay. The most-overpaid player on the Rams roster is their $9.1 million cap-hit tight end, Colby Parkinson.<\/p>\n

Colby Parkinson named most overpaid Rams player<\/p>\n

“Honestly, kudos to the Rams front office because this was the toughest one we had to tackle,” Gagnon writes. “… We had to reach massively for Parkinson, who will carry a high-ish $9.1 million cap hit in 2026 as a guy who has never caught 50 passes or hit 500 yards in a season.”<\/p>\n

The Rams might be spending a good amount on Parkinson, one of their three starting-caliber tight ends, which could be considered too much for such a player, but it’s barely anything in the grand scheme of things.<\/p>\n

Parkinson showed up last season and had some key catches and plays during the Rams’ playoff run. He was a good receiver for Stafford, and someone who, while $9.1 million might be too rich, was certainly worth keeping on the roster.<\/p>\n

More:\u00a0Rams extend Trent McDuffie on $124 million four-year contract<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s too soon to turn to Trent McDuffie or Jaylen Watson as overpays, especially considering how badly the Rams needed help in the secondary.<\/p>\n

Similarly, for Quentin Lake and Kamren Curl, the Rams’ big deals for both safeties might be a bit much for some teams, but for the Rams, it makes a lot of sense.<\/p>\n

Gagnon struggling to find an “overpaid” player on the roster highlights just how good a job Les Snead has done for Los Angeles over the years.<\/p>\n

The Rams aren’t just set up to compete in 2026, but their contracts and well-balanced books allow them to continue building a contender even once Stafford retires.<\/p>\n

Parkinson might be “overpaid” by traditional standards, but even that is only a $9.1 million cap hit with over $300 million cap space at the Rams’ disposal. It’s a perfectly fine deal, and it’s really only called an overpay to attribute the label to one player on the team.<\/p>\n

More Rams news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Rams are coming off a disappointing 2025 season, from the standpoint that, had the beat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":841668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2079],"tags":[7,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-841667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-los-angeles","10":"tag-los-angeles-rams","11":"tag-losangeles","12":"tag-losangelesrams","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-rams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116314579150250070","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}