Five months ago, Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead traded his 2020 first- and fourth-round picks and 2021 first-round selection for cornerback Jalen Ramsey. A month before that, he extended quarterback Jared Goff at a then-market setting $110 million guaranteed figure over four years. And about a year before that, he set a different positional market with the signing of running back Todd Gurley to a four-year, $60 million deal.

Snead's chickens have come home to roost as Gurley's market-setting deal has become too much of a hindrance to remain on Los Angeles’ books. He was cut before the deadline Thursday.

At the time of the Goff extension, Snead had an aggressive team-building strategy . He swung on uncertain bets early in drafts, like the injury-prone Gurley or undersized Aaron Donald but hose choices lead six All-Pro nods. Snead traded more than most general managers, including the one to select Goff, who made the biggest jump to No. 1 in the history of the NFL draft. Snead also signed bigger deals than other teams and was unafraid of paying top dollar to retain his stars.

The Rams initially attempted to trade Gurley during the new league year, according to NFL media, but were unable to find a suitor due in part to the weight of his contract. If Gurley remained on the roster after the 4 p.m. deadline, another $10.5 million of his contract would have become guaranteed and with it all of Los Angeles' leverage in a trade negotiation. Instead, the Rams cut Gurley and swallowed the dead money on his deal, which they will defray across the course of two years as they're designating Gurley as a post-June 1 cut.

This move always felt conceivable but never felt possible and serves as a reminder for many teams. In a changing league landscape, Gurley's blazing rise and equivalent decline demonstrate just how reliant "elite" running backs are on elite offensive lines. Or rather, how elite offensive lines can truly make a quality ball-carrier shine. Gurley's among the top runners when healthy, so perhaps his cut is an example that running backs deal with too much wear and tear to be considered a healthy investment.

However, the most important thing Gurley's contract does is foreshadow the fallout of Goff's deal. Goff is a four-year starter who has made it to a Super Bowl, but so have Jimmy Garoppolo and Nick Foles in recent seasons. It's not enough to enjoy team success as the captain of a healthy offense. Goff simply doesn't bring as much playmaking ability, natural talent or consistency to the position as, say, the yet-unextended Dak Prescott.

Lost in the deadline for Gurley's extension was the guarantee for Goff, which has now gone through beyond the deadline. Beyond the astonishing 2020 figure, Goff now has a dead cap hit of $58 million in 2021 and $25.5 million in 2020. He is unquestionably the starting quarterback of the Rams for the next three seasons, but they no longer have their star running back; have no first-round selections for the next two seasons and are trying to trade one of their top receivers to save some cash and return some draft picks.

This roster is inflexible and the coffers are bare. The Rams are not so much in a winning window as they are in a static window: What they see is what they get and little help is on the way. Yet exorbitant spending seems to remain company policy in Los Angeles. The Rams reportedly acquired Leonard Floyd on a one-year, $13 million deal — the action of a team who thinks they're one Floyd away from winning the Super Bowl — and extended 38-year-old offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth on what is essentially a two-year, $18 million deal. Yet the rest of the line is worse, as Day 3 picks from previous classes are not immediately turning over into impact starters, and the depth on the defensive line and secondary has been eroded against the unyielding edge of the Rams' mega-contracts.

Snead told the Ringer in 2018 that he doesn't "ever remember thinking, ‘Uh-oh, we’re up against the books here'" in the era of the modern CBA. With a new deal incoming and a possible jump in the cap ceiling in 2021, perhaps this is just a speed bump on the road of reckless spending for Snead. But that is the Rams' only hope: flexibility from a rising cap. Other than that, this is the roster of the future and the future looks bleaker by the day.