The Rams know how hard it is to put a Super Bowl-winning roster together. They’re about to find out how hard it is to keep one together.

As the NFL’s annual frenzy of player movement begins this week, more than a half-dozen key contributors to the Super Bowl LVI victory are eligible to leave and cash in on unrestricted free agency.

Can the Rams re-sign outside linebacker Von Miller and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.? Who is worth the cost of re-signing among cornerback Darious Williams, right guard Austin Corbett, center Brian Allen and left tackle-in-waiting Joe Noteboom? Is there money to sign another team’s big free agent?

Those are among the questions facing general manager Les Snead and coach Sean McVay as teams begin negotiating with free agents Monday and announcing signings and trades Wednesday.

“You want to be able to keep as many foundational pieces (of the title-winning roster) in place, while not being naive to the fact that it’s a brand new year,” McVay said March 2. “Even though we’ll have the same goals, we’ll have new challenges.”

First, an old challenge.

As usual, the Rams’ propensity for trading draft picks for high-paid stars like quarterback Matthew Stafford and cornerback Jalen Ramsey, and rewarding their stars with contract extensions, has left them over the NFL salary cap before the Wednesday deadline for balancing the books.

Saturday, the Rams were $20.3 million over the cap, which rose from $182.5 million per team in 2021 to $208.2 million for 2022 after league revenue recovered as fans returned to stadiums.

They can erase $16 million of that red ink if left tackle Andrew Whitworth gives up the final year of his contract by announcing his retirement, the expectation since the 40-year-old won his first Super Bowl.

More savings for the upcoming season – without releasing players – could come from restructuring contracts from a group of players that includes Stafford, Ramsey, defensive tackle Aaron Donald, wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods, and outside linebacker Leonard Floyd.

But even if the Rams get comfortably under the cap, none of their top free agents will be cheap to re-sign.

The sports payroll tracker Spotrac.com’s market-value projections estimate Miller, 32, is worth a two-year, $21 million contract; Beckham, 29, two years and $26.3 million; Williams, 28, four years and $58.4 million; Corbett, 26, four years and $35 million, and Allen, 26, five years and $27.1 million.

Miller, who leads active players with 115 1/2 regular-season sacks (and nine in the last eight regular- and postseason games), might not be easy to re-sign.

“I kinda want that old thing back,” Miller said March 7 on Twitter, making the message either slightly less or slightly more cryptic by adding “5280.”

Get it? Miller played 10 seasons in Denver, the Mile High City, before the Broncos traded him to the Rams in November.

Beckham could have asked for a lot more on the open market if the knee injury he sustained in the first half of the Rams’ 23-20 victory over the Bengals in the Super Bowl weren’t likely to cost him the start of the 2022 season.

“We’d definitely like Odell to be a part,” Snead said earlier this month, indicating the Rams are still interested.

After all, they had Beckham for only the second half of the season in 2021 after signing him away from an unhappy situation with the Browns, and he played an important role filling in for the injured Woods.

Beckham’s and Miller’s stories help illustrated why what happens this week won’t determine whether the Rams become the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since the 2003-04 Patriots.

Thirteen of the Rams’ first-unit players last season came from other teams rather than joining as rookies. Eight of those arrived during a season (Miller, Beckham and return man Brandon Powell in ’21, kicker Matt Gay in ’20, Ramsey and Corbett in ’19, Williams in ’18) or right before the season (running back Sony Michel, ’21). Only five came during the March free-agency and trade period (Stafford in ’21, Floyd and defensive end A’Shawn Robinson in ’20, Woods and Whitworth in ’17).

Still, one reason it’s hard to repeat a Super Bowl victory is that good players tend to depart. The Super Bowl LV-winning Buccaneers were a rarity, bringing back all 22 starters on offense and defense last season, helped by not having many highly valuable free agents. The three Super Bowl winners before that had 10 free agents who signed contracts worth $10 million or more; eight signed with other teams.

Snead expressed hope the Rams can “bring as many of this year’s players back as possible, because they achieved something special.”

But it won’t be easy.

RAMS FREE AGENTS

All are pending unrestricted free agents unless designated as restricted free agents (RFA), whom the Rams can keep by matching another team’s offer, and exclusive-rights free agents (ERFA), whom they can keep at a league-mandated minimum salary.

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Offense

QB: John Wolford (ERFA); RB: Sony Michel, Buddy Howell; WR: Odell Beckham Jr.; TE: Johnny Mundt; T: Joe Noteboom; RG: Austin Corbett; C: Brian Allen, Coleman Shelton (RFA)

Defense

DL: Sebastian Joseph-Day; OLB: Von Miller, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo; ILB: Troy Reeder (RFA), Travin Howard (ERFA), CB: Darious Williams, Dont’e Deayon

Special teams

K: Matt Gay (RFA); PR-KR: Brandon Powell