Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › roster projections, cut-down speculations, and related articles
- This topic has 1 reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 2 months ago by
RamBill.
-
AuthorPosts
-
August 29, 2014 at 1:40 am #5445
znModeratorFinal St. Louis Rams 53-Man Roster Projections
by Patrick Karraker
The St. Louis Rams wrapped up their preseason with a loss to the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night, which means that we’ll find out soon enough who’s going to be on the team’s 53-man roster to open the season. General manager Les Snead said that some of the cuts could be made late Friday afternoon, though he acknowledged that he’ll need to sleep on some of the final decisions before the deadline on Saturday.
Here’s one final guess at who will comprise the Rams’ 53-man roster to open the regular season:
Quarterbacks (2): Shaun Hill, Austin Davis
Rookie sixth-rounder Garrett Gilbert has looked raw enough during the preseason that the Rams should be able to get him through waivers to the practice squad and continue to develop him. Davis has looked like a solid backup option over the past couple weeks. There’s at least a faint possibility that they could try to acquire a more experienced backup option, but that seems less likely considering that Davis has been so good.
Running Backs (5): Zac Stacy, Benny Cunningham, Tre Mason, Chase Reynolds, Trey Watts
Undrafted rookie Trey Watts may have earned himself a 53-man roster spot with another good performance on Thursday night. The top four guys are probably locked in, with Reynolds being a major special teams contributor. If the Rams don’t find room for Watts, they may be at risk losing him on waivers.
Wide Receivers (5): Kenny Britt, Brian Quick, Tavon Austin, Chris Givens, Austin Pettis
None of the other young receivers have really done anything to deserve a spot, so if Justin Veltung, Emory Blake, and Austin Franklin are going to stay a part of the team, it will almost surely be on the practice squad. The most interesting in-season roster battle may be seeing who sticks between Givens and Pettis after Stedman Bailey returns from a four-game suspension.
Tight Ends (4): Jared Cook, Lance Kendricks, Cory Harkey, Justice Cunningham
The battle between Cunningham and Alex Bayer is the most difficult to call on the roster. I went with Cunningham because he seems to be utilized more due to his solid blocking ability and special teams skills, but Bayer has definitely shown enough as a receiver to potentially make the team as well.
Offensive Line (9): Jake Long, Rodger Saffold, Scott Wells, Davin Joseph, Joe Barksdale, Greg Robinson, Tim Barnes, Mike Person, Brandon Washington
Washington didn’t exactly wow anyone with his performance on Thursday, but he didn’t get embarrassed like his competitors for a potential ninth offensive line spot, such as Sean Hooey and Travis Bond, did. Since whoever makes the team as the ninth lineman will likely be inactive on Sundays anyway, it’s still possible that the team could elect to allow second-year lineman Barrett Jones to recover from his back injury and have him ready to go by midseason. Otherwise, they may be searching for outside help to upgrade at this spot.
Defensive Line (9): Chris Long, Michael Brockers, Kendall Langford, Robert Quinn, Aaron Donald, William Hayes, Eugene Sims, Ethan Westbrooks, Michael Sam
Rookies Michael Sam and Ethan Westbrooks have both had great preseasons, and neither deserves to get cut. There’s only so much defensive line space, though, which is why I’m throwing a curveball here and not including veteran defensive tackle Alex Carrington. Jeff Fisher rarely dresses four defensive tackles on Sundays anyway, which would leave Carrington as an inactive, and it would be more financially efficient to have Westbrooks and Sam stand on the sidelines and not do anything. Besides that, they might be able to get something in return for Carrington via a trade. Perhaps the reason we saw Carrington start at defensive end on Thursday was to showcase him for such a deal.
Linebackers (6): Alec Ogletree, James Laurinaitis, Jo-Lonn Dunbar, Ray Ray Armstrong, Daren Bates, Phillip Steward
With as little as the Rams’ young linebackers have done to distinguish themselves this preseason, Etienne Sabino’s great performance on Thursday may have been enough to vault him ahead of Steward on the 53-man roster. I’m still giving Steward the edge right now, though it’s possible that the Rams may look for someone off the waiver wire to fill that sixth linebacker spot.
Cornerbacks (6): Janoris Jenkins, Trumaine Johnson, E.J. Gaines, Lamarcus Joyner, Brandon McGee, Marcus Roberson
The Rams are likely to keep six corners due to Johnson’s injury. I’m giving Roberson the edge for the last spot, though Greg Reid and Darren Woodard have also been good and would be basically interchangeable with Roberson.
Safeties (4): Rodney McLeod, T.J. McDonald, Cody Davis, Mo Alexander
Since they’re keeping six corners, the Rams probably only carry four safeties. That could change, however, if they want to hold onto rookie special teams standout Avery Cunningham or seventh-rounder Christian Bryant, who had a nice night on Thursday.
Specialists (3): Greg Zuerlein, Johnny Hekker, Jake McQuaide
Now that they’ve made it through the preseason healthy, all these guys are 100 percent locks unless they suffer some freak accident on the plane ride home.
August 30, 2014 at 1:11 am #5524
RamBillParticipantWith four cuts remaining, Sam still a Ram
• By Jim ThomasMichael Sam will neither sit by the phone nor unplug it Saturday — the day of reckoning for his NFL career.
“You know what, I’m just gonna relax,” he said Thursday following the Rams’ 14-13 loss to Miami in their preseason finale. “I’m going back to my hometown, Columbia, see (the Missouri Tigers’) opening game against South Dakota State, and I’m not even going to worry about it.
“Whatever happens, happens. I’ll let the chips fall where they fall.”
Lots of chips fell Friday once the team returned to St. Louis from Florida. The Rams confirmed that they have made 17 cuts. Throw in the fact that wide receiver Stedman Bailey won’t count against the roster because of his four-game NFL suspension, and that leaves only four more players to be cut to reach the 53-man regular-season roster limit.
The Rams didn’t release those 17 names, but Sam’s name is not on the list. Neither is defensive end Ethan Westbrooks, who is Sam’s main competition for a spot on what figures to be one of the league’s top defensive lines in 2014.
Sam, in effect, has reached the “final four” (cuts) in his quest to become the NFL’s first openly gay player. If it doesn’t happen, Sam says he can look at himself in the mirror knowing he had done his best.
“Absolutely,” Sam said. “Absolutely. I did everything I could. Now it’s out of my hands. I’m at the NFL’s mercy’s; the coaches’ mercy. So we’ll wait.”
He’ll know his fate no later than 3 p.m. That’s when all 32 teams must be at the 53-man roster limit.
And what happens if Sam makes the Rams’ roster, and makes history in the process?
Well, there will be a celebration or sorts.
“Oh yeah, I’m gonna probably have a victory shot (of liquor), and a cigar,” he said, laughing.
After the Miami contest, Sam seemed as relaxed as he has been since being drafted late in the seventh round by the Rams last May. He seems at peace with himself.
From Tony Dungy saying he wouldn’t have drafted Sam, to Johnny Manziel saying Sam probably gets heckled all the time, to ESPN reporting on Sam’s “showering regimen,” he has kept his wits about him.
“Kept it about football,” Sam said. “That’s all that matters. I think I handled the situation very well, and I think I improved every week.”
Sam said he came out very relaxed against the Dolphins, a game in which unofficially he led all Rams in tackles with six.
“I wasn’t worried,” he said. “I was gonna have fun — have fun with the guys.”
The fun has ended for 17 of those guys, who learned Friday that they will be released by the team. By design, the Rams did not send in those names to the league in time to make the NFL’s Friday transactions list.
But according to a variety of league sources, here are 15 of those names.
On offense: QB Garrett Gilbert; WRs Emory Blake, Austin Franklin and Justin Veltung; TE Brad Smelley; OLs Travis Bond, Sean Hooey and Mitchell Van Dyke.
On defense: DLs Kourtnei Brown and Deantre Harlan; LBs Aaron Hill, Etienne Sabino and Phillip Steward; DBs Avery Cunningham and Darren Woodard.
None of the moves is official until it shows up on the league transaction wire.
Gilbert (sixth round) and Van Dyke (seventh) were members of the Rams’ 2014 draft class. Gilbert could still end up on the team’s practice squad if he clears waivers Saturday, but his departure currently leaves the team with only two quarterbacks on the roster, Shaun Hill and Austin Davis.
Could that foreshadow a pickup elsewhere at quarterback, either via trade or the waiver wire?
The Rams have five tight ends still on their roster, an indication that the team is wrestling with whether to keep Alex Bayer or Justice Cunningham. They’re unlikely to keep both.
At wide receiver, the team is at five once the Bailey suspension begins, and they’ll take five into the regular season.
There are five running backs still standing. Trey Watts or Chase Reynolds could be in jeopardy if the team decides to keep just four, but coach Jeff Fisher did keep five last season.
After Friday’s cuts, the Rams have 10 offensive linemen, a group that includes Mike Person, Brandon Washington and the injured Barrett Jones. The team could free up an additional roster spot if it decides to place Jones on the injured reserve or IR/designated for return lists. Jones is coming off back surgery and is expected to miss several additional weeks.
On defense, the departures of Brown and Harlan leave 11 defensive linemen. One of them is defensive tackle Matt Conrath, who has been sidelined with an undisclosed injury. The team could be working on an injury settlement there. And then, of course, there’s the matter of what to do with Sam and Westbrooks — keep them both or cut one?
At linebacker, the Rams are down to six. But it was unclear Friday night if Lawrence Wilson had made the team or if he would be released and the team was going with only five LBs.
And finally, in the secondary, the Rams are known to have 11 players. With cornerback Trumaine Johnson expected to miss at least another month with a knee injury, the Rams might be forced to keep an extra cornerback. Right now, they have seven (including cornerback and safety Lamarcus Joyner), so either Greg Reid or Marcus Roberson — or both — could be in jeopardy.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
