5 LA Rams players most hurt by no OTAs this year

Tight end

Talking about a warning shot? Former Purdue tight end Brycen Hopkins certainly should consider the teams willingness to draft UCF’s 6-foot-5 tight end Jacob Harris as a warning shot. At least, it should be a wake up call. If the Rams were indeed content with the young man’s progress and projected ability to step up as a significant contributor to the offense, the Rams would never have drafted Harris.

Hopkins is a 6-foot-4 245-pound pass-catching specialist who can create seperation, make nearly impossible circus catches, but falls into a pattern of dropping the sure catches that is the fast-track to getting on head coach Sean McVay’s bad-boy list. While we never saw reports to that effect, the move to draft Harris suggest that happened more frequently for Hopkins than was good for him.

Another area of suspect performance is Hopkins ability to block. Outgoing tight end Gerald Everett excelled at that task, and it’s a bread-and-butter talent for any tight end who hopes to see playing time in the Rams offense. To prevent other teams from poaching Hopkins, the Rams carried him on the 53-man roster. But he only played two offensive snaps, and 51 plays on special teams. In that entire time, he did not register a single tackle on coverage.  Rather he was coddled on a bench and asked to watch and learn. Now, the rent for that bench space appears to be due.

Hopkins, like many of the players on this list, should not take the threat to his future with the Rams lightly. Just as he was drafted with the clear intentions to slide into the vacancy of the outbound veteran Gerald Everett, he now faces his own threat with the team bringing in a  new rookie to fill a roster spot that currently is not apparent.

The coaching staff really won’t take the time after deciding to take the offense in a drastically new direction to sit down and give hours of discussion over who might be part of the new philosphy. That is up to any player who was not a regular starter to prove that they should be considered as a solid contributor.

Get on your cleats and hit the football field fellows. Your NFL careers may depend on how well you impress the coaches.