How Cooper Kupp Will Impact Rams in 2025

If two branches are enough to establish a general manager tree, then Les Snead is well on his way to an orchard. Brad Holmes and James Gladstone already have left the nest. Tony Pastoors is likely the next man up.

For now, Pastoors is the Rams’ vice president of football and business administration. Among many things, he oversees the organization’s salary cap. Pastoors said Monday that the difficult decision to release Cooper Kupp will continue to have financial ramifications in 2025, while Kupp plays for division rival Seattle.

That Seahawks contract, Pastoors confirmed, included a $12 million signing bonus that offset what the Rams were due to pay Kupp had he remained in Los Angeles. But terminating Kupp’s contract did trigger a dead-money hit of approximately $22 million against the Rams’ 2025 cap, or just under 8 percent of the organization’s $279.2 million cap.

The good news, though, is Kupp will not count against the cap next season. And don’t be surprised if the Rams take a quarterback in this month’s draft because they may not have Matthew Stafford in 2026. Pastoors is OK, though, without Stafford’s guaranteed return next year.

"I would say it's a good problem to have,” Pastoors said Monday. “Because if you've got a quarterback, you got a chance, and we've got a really good one.

"I think we all would acknowledge here, you probably have to start planning and figuring out the future, but in the here and now, you appreciate that you got a guy like Matthew, and you can get into the postseason like we did last year and feel like you got a chance every time you step on the field."

Pastoors works directly with Kevin Demoff on all aspects of the organization’s operations. He also partners with Snead and Sean McVay on strategic personnel decisions. What’s more, Pastoors serves as the chief contract negotiator, in addition to the cap and compliance with the collective bargaining agreement.

He played a key role in the 2017 search to find and hire 30-year-old McVay, making him the youngest head coach in modern NFL history. Since that hire and in partnership with McVay and Snead, Pastoors has helped the Rams earn six playoff berths in eight seasons and advance to two Super Bowls, winning the world title in 2021.

A Minneapolis, Minn., native, Pastoors played for the late Buddy Teevens at Dartmouth.