practice squad thoughts and actions

Isaiah Battle could still land on Rams practice squad

Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/21099/isaiah-battle-could-still-land-on-rams-practice-squad

EARTH CITY, Mo. — Now that they’ve trimmed the roster to the league-mandated 53 players, the St. Louis Rams will join the rest of the league in putting together a 10-man practice squad during the next couple of days.

Keeping in mind it’s difficult to project without knowing who clears waivers and which players from other teams might be available, here’s one man’s guess on how that could look for the Rams:

DT Louis Trinca-Pasat: An active, disruptive three-technique tackle, Trinca-Pasat was one of the team’s most difficult cuts. He was ultimately a victim of the numbers game, but if he doesn’t get claimed elsewhere, he seems like an obvious choice to stick around.

DE Matt Longacre: Longacre is essentially the defensive end version of Trinca-Pasat. He was very productive in the preseason and a difficult cut, but again, the Rams simply didn’t have room on the roster. With William Hayes, Eugene Sims and Nick Fairley set to be unrestricted free agents after the season, the Rams could keep multiple defensive linemen as a way of planning for the future.

WR Daniel Rodriguez: One of coach Jeff Fisher’s favorites, the inspirational Rodriguez would make a solid practice player because he’s willing to do just about anything. His presence and the respect he commands even as a rookie in the locker room is an added bonus. If not on the practice squad, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Fisher finds some sort of role for Rodriguez.

OT Isaiah Battle: The Rams knew Battle would take a lot of work before he could contribute, but it was still a bit of a surprise that he didn’t get stashed on the back end of the roster. Still, it’s hard to believe they’d throw away a fifth-round pick without at least trying to keep Battle on the practice squad. Even with 10 offensive linemen on the active roster, it stands to reason the Rams will try to keep Battle and hope he develops in a practice role.

S Jacob Hagen: Hagen showed well at times during the preseason but never had much of a chance because of the team’s depth at the position. He gets a chance to stick around and earn his way onto the roster should injuries arise.

CB Trovon Reed: This could be Reed, Imoan Claiborne, Montell Garner or someone else but the bottom line is the Rams have only four corners on the active roster so they’ll need at least another body or two here for practice purposes.

TE Justice Cunningham: Like at cornerback, the Rams simply don’t have many bodies at tight end and Cunningham has played for them, knows the system and has special-teams value. He makes sense here and as a potential replacement if there are injuries. Fellow tight ends Alex Bayer or Brad Smelley would also make sense in this spot.

RB Malcolm Brown: The Rams have five running backs on the roster, but with Todd Gurley and Tre Mason dealing with injuries, they can’t afford to have one of the others hurt in practice. Add Brown’s strong preseason performance to the mix and he lands a practice-squad spot.

LB Marshall McFadden: The Rams could use one of two exceptions on a player with more than one accrued season on McFadden, who gives them some experience and special-teams value on the practice squad in the event of injuries on the active roster.

S Christian Bryant: Consider this a sort of wild-card spot that the Rams look to use on whoever they believe is the best player they can get or keep, regardless of position. Bryant had some good moments in the preseason and might be worth another look.

T Isaiah Battle, RB Malcolm Brown, S Christian Bryant, TE Justice Cunningham, S Jacob Hagen, FB Zach Laskey, DE Matt Longacre, CB Trovon Reed, DT Louis Trinca-Pasat and DT Doug Worthington.

Agamemnon wrote:

In the end, this all turned out quite well. imo

Big plusses on Battle, Brown, Bryant, Longacre, Trinca-Pasat. I really don’t know much about Reed or Worthingon. Interesting on Hagen and Laskey. Cunningham’s okay IMO.

All told this is probably the best practice squad the Rams have had since the league invented practice squads.

Which is why they don’t need a 5th round pick in 2016. The practice squad already has 5-6 guys who have a strong chance of challenging to make the team next year.

And…they’re probably not done. They could grab a stray guy or 2 and either add them straight to the PS, or add them straight to the 53 and then possibly put the 53-roster guy he replaces on the PS.

Rams name practice squad, including offensive tackle Isaiah Battle

Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/21113/rams-name-practice-squad-including-offensive-tackle-isaiah-battle

EARTH CITY, Mo. — Everything worked out for the St. Louis Rams and offensive tackle Isaiah Battle after all.

Less than a day after the Rams released their supplemental draft choice in a mild surprise, the Rams re-signed Battle to their 10-man practice squad announced Sunday afternoon.

In keeping Battle, who clearly has a long way to go before he’s ready to contribute, the Rams can continue to develop him without having him use a spot on the active roster. So while it was a bit of a gamble to expose him to waivers, it paid off.

The rest of the practice squad includes running back Malcolm Brown, safety Christian Bryant, tight end Justice Cunningham, safety Jacob Hagen, fullback Zach Laskey, end Matt Longacre, cornerback Trovon Reed, defensive tackle Louis Trinca-Pasat and defensive tackle Doug Worthington.

All of those players spent the preseason with the Rams, which is somewhat rare for practice squads in today’s NFL. But the Rams were particularly high on Longacre, Brown, Trinca-Pasat and Hagen as undrafted free agents this year and likely feel fortunate to keep them all. Cunningham spent time on the active roster last year and is a logical addition and possible replacement should injuries arise.

Worthington and Bryant spent time on the practice squad in 2014. Among notable cuts, receiver Daniel Rodriguez and offensive lineman Barrett Jones did not land spots on the practice squad

zn wrote:

RangerRam

here are 6 that have decent shot at ps

S Christian Bryant,
CB Montell Garner,—–or Imoan Claiborne CB
DE Martin Ifedi,——–likely weakest candidate
FB Zach Laskey,
DE Matt Longacre,
DT Louis Trinca-Pasat
OT Isaiah Battle

Well he got 5 of them right. Pretty good.