6 surprise starters from LA Rams first depth chart

Kick returner

When the LA Rams poached the lightning-quick running back Raymond Calais off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers waiver wire, the plan was most certainly to get this guy involved on special teams. As of now, it appears to be the case. Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together? Of course, this one took the scenic route.

Calais may not have won the job in 2020, but there was never much of a chance that he would. After all, the Rams had a finite amount of time to prepare for the 2020 season, and getting everyone together for special teams impacted the time for both the offense and the defense to practice.

No practice, no promotion.

So Calais had to be content with slowly working into the rotation as a kick returner. Slowly is being generous, it was more like a snail’s pace. He saw action in the third and fourth games of the season, and action in the seventh game. After that, he remained inactive until the final game of the regular season. He was placed on injured reserve through the playoffs.

While not a high-volume player, he did flash his potentials on kick returns when he fielded the ball. Now, with the full-time return duties, he can get into a rhythm with the return game. No doubt Special Teams Coordinator Joe DeCamillis likes what he has seen so far. As an added bonus, Calais can offer some rotational relief for Darrell Henderson if needed.