LA Rams News: Rams roster cut by four more players

LA Rams News: Team continues to prune the roster for the 2020 NFL season as the team waives four more undrafted rookies

The LA Rams continue to prune the team’s roster to meet the 80 player roster limit before training camp.  The team had waived four players on July 25, 2020: KR Greg Dortch, IOL Nate Trewyn, TE Ethan Wolf, and S Jake Gervase.  Now the team has waived four more, all from the ranks of players signed after the 2020 NFL Draft. The players waived on August 1, 2020, include LB Daniel Bituli, RB James Gilbert, DT Sam Renner, and DE Greg Reaves.

The Rams roster is also reduced by the decision of OL Chandler Brewer to opt-out this season.

These moves, while still early, add to the picture forming over the Rams 2020 final roster.  The team now has five running backs on the roster: Cam Akers, Darrell Henderson, Malcolm Brown, John Kelly, and Xavier Jones. Jones is a very intriguing player, as he held the 2019 NCAA scoring record.

The Rams will likely go with just 3 running backs, but if Jones impresses the coaching staff, he could unseat Brown as the red zone back. With the Rams in such a tight salary cap space, an inexpensive option like Jones could win a roster spot, allowing the Rams to free up another $1 million in cap space.

Defense taking shape

With today’s news, the Rams’ defensive roster picture is becoming clearer.  The Rams defensive linemen include starters Aaron Donald, A’Shawn Robinson, and Michael Brockers, with Sebastian Joseph-Day, Greg Gaines, and Morgan Fox as the presumed backups.  That leaves Marquise Copeland, Eric Banks, and Michael Hoecht to fight for the practice squad designation.

The team had previously announced on July 31, 2020, that DL Hoecht was assigned to the team’s COVID-19 reserve list. While Hoecht can return in as little as ten-days, with two consecutive negative COVID-19 tests, the delay for him to participate in the team walk-throughs will hurt his ability to play this season.

Linebackers left

The departure of Bituli leaves the Rams plenty of linebackers to vet in training camp this season.  The team carried four inside linebackers on the roster in 2019, but currently have seven remaining to sort through this year. Both Troy Reeder and Travin Howard return from the 2019 roster, as well as Micah Kiser from last season’s injured reserve list. Kenny Young was added mid-season in the trade which sent Marcus Peters to Baltimore Ravens.

That leaves drafted rookie Clay Johnston, and undrafted rookies Bryan London II and Christian Rozeboom, as the remaining players likely fighting for assignment to the practice squad.  The Rams roster is set for training camp now,  Will there be more transactions down the road? I would not rule it out.  Particularly as the Rams coaches finally get their first looks at the players.  For now, the team will now enter training camp. However, the team could still look to sign a veteran free agent if the learning curve for incoming rookies is too steep.