LA Rams News: Team makes a flurry of roster moves

LA Rams News: The team scampered around roster moves today before Sunday’s showdown match.

In LA Rams News: The team is down two starters for Sunday’s game. The team assigned ILB Micah Kiser (knee) to the three-week injured reserve, and have downgraded OLB Terrell Lewis (knee) to out for this week. That places a lot of pressure on the Rams defense. Not only must the team scheme to compensate for losing two young linebackers, but the team will be limited in terms of players to take the field.

So the Rams did what they had to do. That means that the team needed to make a flurry of moves to shore up the defense for this week. So what were those moves?

Well, the Rams acted in this order.

Chess or checkers?

The latest flurry of moves has prompted a question of sorts. Are the Rams reacting, or being proactive right now? Why is that important?  Well, if the team is simply reacting, then a similar situation will happen again. If the team takes a strategic approach, then the team has fixed the problem for the long haul.   Unfortunately, this series of moves feels like checkers.

The team signed LB Natrez Patrick from the practice squad to the active 53 man roster. The team had signed DE Derrick Rivers to the team and finally activated him today after clearing COVID-19 protocols. Due to a heavy dose of nickel and dime packages for this game, the Rams elevated defensive back, J.R. Reed, from the practice squad to the active roster for gameday.  And to fill the opening on the practice squad created by Patrick, the Rams re-signed DB Jake Gervase to the practice squad.

Where are we left?

All of this has the active roster at 52 players and the team’s practice squad at 15 players.  The Rams do have OLB Ogbonnia Okoronkwo queued to return to the active roster on the Reserve/Injured; Designated for Return roster, and TE Kendall Blanton awaiting the return to the team’s practice squad, while currently on the Reserve/COVID-19 roster.

What that means, for now, is that the front office is not working their phones, nor drafting free agent profiles to be considered to help the Rams in the future. That’s not the approach we recommend for now. After all, the Rams are bare-bones thin at ILB now. At the current rate of ‘burning through’ players at the position, the team will be completely spent on inside linebackers before this season ends.

Where is the magical move?

The Rams are clever, we’ll give them that. They’ve added OLB Natrez Patrick. DE/OLB Derrick Rivers and DB J.R. Reed for this week’s game, and backfilled the practice squad with DB Jake Gervase. That will give the team enough players to work with on defense for this matchup. But what of future games?  The Rams need to act quickly. Right now, their leading tackler is on IR for the next three weeks.

In the past, the Rams have dealt with this type of situation with a rabbits-out-of-hats move by their general manager Les Snead. It’s time for Rams GM Les Snead to work his magic once more. In fact, it’s long overdue.