Ramblin’ Fans’ “Humpday” Morning Links: “Indispensable” Players, Hot-Seat Rookies, And Jared Cook In The Headlines

NFL Training Camp has started, and the feeling of football is finally starting to make its way across the nation. The “veterans” on the St. Louis Rams should be showing up at Rams Camp this morning, which will undoubtedly make for some interesting headlines as the week goes on. While the happenings of offseason practice might seem boring by mid-September, right now any football news seems like Media Day before the Super Bowl. Lets all sit back and soak in the news…

St. Louis Rams Tight Ends Primed to Make Major Impact in 2013

With shiny new toys like Tavon Austin and the growing infatuation with the battle at the running back position, some might have forgotten that the Rams will be starting the season with, potentially, the best tight end duo in the NFL. Mack Rosenburg, of Bleacher Report, breaks down why he thinks the Kendricks/Cook combination could be lethal this coming season.

Rams Notebook: Moves put roster at 90-man limit

While a majority of the moves at this point in the offseason will be rendered meaningless by the time the cuts for the 53-man roster roll around, there will be countless players still fighting for their NFL-life in the next couple of weeks. St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist, Joe Lyons, tells you who was cut, signed, and which veterans will be taking a couple extra days of rest during training camp in St. Louis.

Four veterans bordering on indispensable

While Anquan Boldin may be be most “indispensable” player to the 49ers, it is hard get on board with the rest of Mike Sando’s picks in the NFC West. Specifically for the St. Louis Rams, he mentions Scott Wells, who missed a majority of last season with multiple injuries. However, in his absence, there was not a huge downgrade in performance at center, at least in terms of production on the field. Rob Turner actually graded out relatively well at the position, and with the acquisition of Barrett Jones, arguably the second-best center prospect in the 2013 draft class, it is hard to say Wells is “indispensable”…

Jordy Nelson, DeMarco Murray among NFC players on the spot

NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks rattles off his list of the top player from each NFC team that is potentially “on the hot seat” this coming season. While most would assume that award would be handed to fourth-year signal caller, Sam Bradford, Brooks makes a different, significant more surprising choice… Tavon Austin. He ends his brief paragraph about the Rams’ rookie claiming, “the odds seemingly are stacked against Austin thriving as a No. 1 receiver in Year 1.” Well luckily, Austin will not be expected to thrive as a No. 1 receiver in Year 1, or in any year for that matter. The St. Louis Rams are going to play Austin all over the field, in the backfield, out wide, in the slot, and on special teams. He will undoubtedly see the most touches of any player on the Rams this coming season, but few of them will come as a true “No. 1 receiver.”

New tight end Cook gets a workout at Camp Bradford

While Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey are getting headlines as the player-couple of the offseason, the connection between Jared Cook and Sam Bradford appears to be just as strong. Numerous reports have surfaces about Bradford gathering with his new weapons outside of organized, schedules practices. Hopefully that extra time will pay dividends once the season begins…