Last offseason's all-in gambit from the Los Angeles Rams began with a trade for former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters. Coming off a three-season run in Kansas City where he made two Pro Bowls and an All-Pro first team and led the league in interceptions, Peters was considered a high-level acquisition for the Rams defense.
The Rams followed up that move with trades for Aqib Talib and Brandin Cooks, and the signing of Ndamukong Suh, and ended the year by making a run to the Super Bowl. They ultimately fell short, but they're still considered among the small group of best teams in the NFL heading into 2019.
Peters, though, did not live up to lofty expectations. He was fantastic to start the year, but played through injury for much of the season and was far less effective than usual -- especially while Talib was on the sideline dealing with an injury of his own. Now heading into the fifth-year option season of his rookie-scale contract, Peters is extension-eligible, but does not yet have a new deal.
The cornerback professes that he's not worried about contract talks.
"I want to get to the Super Bowl and win it this time, that's what I want to break, really," Peters said, per the Associated Press. "All of the rest of the stuff will take care of itself."
The Rams are currently just south of $6.6 million under the cap, per Spotrac, though extending Peters could actually give them more room to operate because they could lower his Year 1 base salary and thus his cap hit. They currently have Cooks, Todd Gurley, Robert Woods, Rob Havenstein, Aaron Donald, and punter Johnny Hekker signed through at least 2021, but that's it. With new deals for Peters, Jared Goff, Cooper Kupp, and John Johnson III potentially on the horizon, there's a lot of maneuvering that will need to be done over the next few years to ensure their books remain in good shape. But again, Peters is not concentrating on that, he says.
"The only thing I can do is come in and do my job and be the best teammate I'm doing, be the best player I can be on the field, and the rest of the stuff will take care of itself," Peters said. "I'm not too worried about it."
