The team had to be feeling good over the weekend, with the obvious exception of wide receiver Donnie Avery. It has been announced by the team that Avery will miss the 2010 season with a torn ACL, and we wish him a speedy recovery. With that being said, this injury makes it even more vital that the team do something to find a veteran who can contribute at the position. We needed it before the injury, but now we are desperate.

Now, before I get the obvious questions, let me address it here. Two high-profile receivers were cut over the last few days, so it stands to reason that the Rams might be interested. I wouldn’t hold my breath. Antonio Bryant was let go by the Bengals after signing a 4-year, $28 million deal in the offseason. I don’t expect the Rams to show much interest here, as Bryant is still suffering from soreness in his knee that caused him to miss a good chunk of last season. I think he would be a nice fit, but the Bengals wouldn’t have let him go if they thought he could contribute at a high level this season. Laveranues  Coles was also released by the Jets, but he has discussed retirement. If he does decide to play, I doubt he will want to come here, and I also don’t know how much of an upgrade he would be. I wouldn’t rule either one of these players out, but don’t be shocked if you don’t hear much out of Rams camp about them.

In other news, the team parted ways with RB Jamie McCoy, CB Marcus Brown, and OL Joe Gibbs over the weekend. No big shockers here, but the interesting cuts will be coming in a matter of weeks. I am certainly interested in which receivers will make the team, even more so now that Avery is out.

With the news breaking yesterday that the Rams have given Tony Softli has been given permission to seek other employment, it comes as no surprise that the team has decided to show more employees the door. Today it was announced that the Rams have informed Ray Ogas, the team’s head of the player program department, that he would not be retained for the upcoming season. Ogas has been with the organization for 10 years, and he worked with players on the transition to the NFL while with the club. There is no doubt that Devaney and company want their guys involved with the organization, so anyone who predates their regime has a serious lack of job security at this point. We haven’t exactly been successful over the last several years, so it’s hard to argue with the idea of bringing in new blood. We have no choice but to trust Devaney at this point, because we really have no place to go but up. I like what he is doing with the club, and hopefully we will see the effects of these moves on the field this season.

Speaking of cleaning house, the team also parted ways with three players this afternoon. Quarterback Mike Reilly, wide receiver Travis Brown, and corner Marcus Brown were all cut from the roster. Reilly has some potential, and he was snatched up by the hated Seahawks quickly after his release was announced. He put up some excellent numbers in college at Central Washington, but he obviously wasn’t in the team’s plans going forward. Both Browns were nothing but practice squad guys, so not a huge loss here. I’d rather give some rookies a chance to make the team.