Last week, the Los Angeles Rams tendered nine pending restricted and exclusive-right free agents who were sit to hit free agency including RB Malcolm Brown.
Tendered at the original round level, Brown was set to play 2019 out on a one-year, $2.025m deal.
But yesterday, the Detroit Lions swooped in an made an offer for Brown. The Rams have five days to match the deal and keep him, but the concern was that he’d be priced out beyond what the Rams were willing to pay him.
But per Sports Illustrated’s MMQB’s Albert Breer, we’ve learned that’s not the case:
The Lions signed RB Malcolm Brown to a two-year, $3.25 million offer sheet, with a $100K signing bonus and $1 million guaranteed.
The Rams have until Monday to match the offer to the restricted free agent.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 20, 2019
Not only is the deal easy to match from the Rams’ side. It actually could pay him less for 2019 depending on the structure.
With RB Todd Gurley coming off of Kneegate, the Rams’ running back depth chart was going to be of utmost importance. With the Lions coming in for such a low deal for Brown, the Rams have an easy decision to make in bringing back their primary backup who was injured in Week 13 against…the Lions.