LA Rams: Say farewell to the first five waived players of 2021

One offensive player sent packing

Although there are only five slots needed for the Rams to get in line with the lower 85-man roster limit, this may be the spot where the Rams carve into their roster just a little bit deeper in order to claim a player or two off the waiver wire of other NFL teams. A running back perhaps? Another quarterback? An offensive lineman? In the end, the Rams stuck to the limit and held fast to the five-player limit.

Los Angeles Rams

Offensive tackle Ryan Pope was the only offensive player to be given his pink slip, and that’s not entirely surprising since he was just recently claimed off waivers. This is truly one of those occasions where the LA Rams would have told the young NFL hopeful: “It’s not you, it’s me.”  Truly, the Rams never had a chance to do more than run the guy through a couple of practices, and that was clearly not enough to get any kind of a handle on what he could deliver. This was the spitting image of a camp body. Nothing more, nothing less.

Holding onto hope for Cam Akers’ return?

Surprisingly, the LA Rams did in fact have an option to assign running back Cam Akers to injured reserve at this juncture. Had the team done so, the team could have saved another player or made room to add a player from waivers.  The Rams chose not to do so, and that then required five players to be waived at this juncture.

But this could also be a sign of the LA Rams organization clinging to the hope that Cam Akers will return. While hard data and a bona fide medical diagnosis are not yet forthcoming, we did compile everything that was available as of the first week of August 2021. At that time, we cited reports that the Rams are hopeful that, much like OT Andrew Whitworth a year ago, RB Cam Akers might return to the roster in time for the NFL playoffs.