LA Rams News: Team faces unique challenges in training camp

Talent evaluation

While many NFL starters are virtually guaranteed a roster spot, there is a churning of new players into every NFL roster which is necessary each season. It infuses new youth into the roster, gives NFL teams a chance at a more heated competition, and relieves the team’s pursestrings of paying the ever burdensome salary of NFL veterans as they become more expensive with more experience.

But adding rookies to an NFL roster is a complicated business. It’s primarily about talent, but not always just that. It’s about the fit, the coachability, the versatility, and even the cost of that player.  It involves how that player performs today, but also how that player projects into the future.  Could that player handle an ever-increasing role through the course of this season? Next season? In two seasons?

Rookies require review and opportunity

The LA Rams have over a third of the roster filled by rookies. First time NFL players who have dreamt of this moment, a chance to earn a chance to play on an NFL roster.  In any other season, it would be navigating the rigors of working out, learning a playbook, and demonstrating the knowledge and ability to execute plays crisply on the practice field, and in the subsequent preseason games. Stand out and make plays? You may earn a roster spot. Fail to make plays, and you’ll likely be looking for other opportunities.

The challenge in 2020 is how can NFL coaches truly evaluate talent? The majority of contact between coaches and players to date have been virtual.  No players have performed exercises, drills, or plays directly for coaches just yet. And with restrictions on player proximity mentioned in the previous slide, it’s not an easy task to set up and complete in the time remaining before the NFL season. While it will come down to measurables – speed, strength, agility, versatility – the likelihood of a surprise find excelling in the NFL this season is extremely remote.