Point blank predictions for the LA Rams practice squad

Who will the LA Rams sign up for the 16 man practice squad? Here are our predictions

The LA Rams are finished with the pruning. The team’s active roster now stands at or below the NFL mandated ceiling of 53 players.  From the 80 players who made up the team just 48 hours ago, the team now stands 28 players lighter.  Of those 28 players, the Rams could be interested in resigning 17. Why that number? 16 practice squad signings, plus one to fill the Rams final roster spot if they are unable to identify a player from the NFL waiver wire.

The Rams 2019 roster was just 10 players. Bold player names signify players who are available for the team’s practice squad for this year too. Italicized player names signify players who are unavailable for assignment this year.

The pool of available players

This is the 2019 practice squad originally assembled:

QB John Wolford
RB John Kelly
TE Kendall Blanton
OL Chandler Brewer
OG Jeremiah Kolone
CB Donte Deayon
S Jake Gervase
LB Dakota Allen
DE Landis Durham
DT Marquise Copeland

Of course, the Rams have another 22 players to add to this list. The team has six available from the Saturday, September 5 list of eight players:

DT Michael Hoecht
LB Clay Johnston
LB Natrez Patrick
QB Bryce Perkins
LB Christian Rozeboom
DE Jonah Williams

Plus the team has 13 players from the 17 list on Friday, September 4.

DB Adonis Alexander
LB Daniel Bituli
C Cohl Cabral
G Jamil Demby
WR Earnest Edwards
K Lirim Hajrullahu
DB Juju Hughes
WR J.J. Koski
DB Dayan Lake
K Austin MacGinnis
DB Tyrique McGhee
LB Derrick Moncrief
WR Easop Winston

The pool of players stands at 25, as the team opened three other roster spots by waiving injured linebacker Justin Lawler., placing linebacker Travin Howard on the team’s IR list, and assigning NT A’Shawn Robinson to the reserve/non-football injury list.

What will the team need this year?

Per the team’s 2021 free agency projection, the team will need development players at tight end (2), wide receiver (2), cornerback (3), offensive line, outside linebacker (3), offensive lineman (2), and safety (1).

So we now have the pieces, and we have the framework. Let’s start projecting the practice squad: What do we know?  Let’s fill the practice squad, and then discuss afterward.

QB (1) – Bryce Perkins (protected)
OL (2) – Cohl Cabral (protected), Jamil Demby
WR (2) – Earnest Edwards IV, Easop Winston
TE (1) – Kendall Blanton
RB (1) – John Kelly

DL (2) –     Michael Hoecht, Marquise Copeland
OLB (1) –   Natrez Patrick
LB (2+1) – Clay Johnston (protected), Christian Rozeboom, Derrick Moncrief
DB (3) –     Dayan Lake, Juju Hughes, Donte Deayon
S (1)    –      Jake Gervase

Squad summary

The Rams reportedly do not intend to place a kicker on the practice squad.  If the Rams are unable to fill the final roster spot, look for the team to promote ILB Christian Rozeboom to the active roster. If not, then the team will likely not add ILB Derrick Moncrief to the practice squad.

Keep in mind that in 2020, the LA Rams will be eligible to call up a maximum of two players from the practice squad each week and returned to the practice squad once more without using waivers twice per season. That will give the Rams opportunities to add depth, special team players, or even rotate some development players into the active roster for snaps this season. Stay tuned to see how well we did.