LA Rams claim OL Ryan Pope off waiver wire

The LA Rams brain trust is clearly more concerned about the state of their offensive line than they are letting on, as the team tried to sneak in a late addition to the roster.  Today, the LA Rams made a waiver wire claim to nab a monstrously sized 6-foot-7, 315- pound offensive lineman by the name of Ryan Pope, who, despite playing for five different teams, has never once seen an NFL snap.

Hmmm, five teams with no playing time anywhere. Zero stats.

His last stop was the Arizona Cardinals who waived Pope on Tuesday after signing him in early August.

Talk about bouncing around the league, Pope is the definition of a journeyman player who’s been riding just on the periphery of NFL rosters since coming into the league.

The huge offensive lineman spent most of last year on the Green Bay Packers practice squad and before that spent time with the Detroit Lions, San Francisco Niners, and Jacksonville Jaguars. He entered the league as an undrafted free agent of the Lions out of San Diego State in 2019.

His best trait? Two words: monstrous frame. He looks the part of an offensive tackle. And in the NFL, don’t kid yourself, size matters.

Teams will always give a big body like that a chance in this league, especially in training camp, in the hopes a few fundamentals can be hung onto that gargantuan build and terrific length.

The potential exists to mold that large piece of clay into an NFL-caliber player, or so the Rams pin their hopes on their coaching staff’s ability to coach him up and turn things around for him.

At this point in time, however, at best, he’s a developmental prospect. Or perhaps an insurance policy in case of injury. Or, just a camp body to take up space. Or even just one more body to hang some blocking duties and offensive snaps on in the upcoming three preseason games. We know that the LA Rams are holding all five starters out of the games. Pope allows a little rotation at the offensive line.  Potential future player? Try the Tackle-Temp Agency. He will be the injury insurance policy, a special teams blocker, and a late-in-the-game cleanup crew.

The NFL’s version of a disposable razor, practice squad fodder.