LA Rams move quickly to get to 80 players limit

The LA Rams may be finished with their roster moves required to get to the 80 player limit. Even as the expectation set the belief that the team needed to part ways with another group of five players, they may have finished their pruning work after today’s transactions.

A week ago, the LA Rams did in fact waive five players. They were all bubble players who saw little action in the first preseason game. While they were shown the door after the first preseason game, much of the deliberation as to their fate occurred both at the team OTAs and training camp practice field. The transactions were recapped in this Tweet on August 16, 2021:

Not surprisingly, the next wave of five came in two parts. Due to the LA Rams’ need to assign both punters, Corey Bojorquez and Johnny Hekker, to the reserve/COVID-19 list, the team had already cleared the active roster of two players.

That meant that the team merely had to part ways with three more players. A day before necessary, the LA Rams announced the following player transactions per the team website:

"“Waived/Injured RB Raymond Calais. Waived/No Recall DB Paris Ford and Waived/No Recall QB Devlin Hodges“"

By rights, the LA Rams have turned a bit of misfortune and flat-out bad luck into a curious way to leverage a bit longer look at one-two player(s) who will ultimately be waived eventually.  By assigning both of their competing punters to the reserver/COVID-19 roster, the team cleared two roster spots on August 21. That enabled the Rams to waive just three players but remain in compliance with the 80 man limit well before the deadline.

The team made the cuts. The roster is down to 80. So let’s look over the who and the why these particular players were waived.

Running back

The injury to kick returner/running back Raymond Calais could not have come at a worse time. Calais is one of the smaller microburst running backs on the team. He only stands 5-foot-8 and weighs in at 188 pounds. While not a large enough rusher to handle the workload, his smaller size is ideal to carve out a niche role for himself in much the same way that a player like Darren Sproles had done.

Los Angeles Rams

Unfortunately, he injured his foot in such a manner as to require an estimated four to six months recovery time. That’s as long as most if not all for the entire 2021 NFL season. While this will be a huge setback for Calais’s career, it also neatly derails the strides made by the Rams by assigning the kick return duties to the second-year player.

Why was he waived now?

The roster limit of 80 is due on August 24, 2021. With even the most optimistic diagnosis for his recovery from foot surgery on or around Christmas Day, the likelihood for the young man to return to the team this year started at remote and went down from there. The team did not attach a ‘no recall’ category to his release, suggest that the Rams are likely placing him on injured reserve if and after he clears NFL waivers.

What does this mean for the LA Rams?

There are a number of subsequent actions that this move prompts from the LA Rams. First and foremost, the LA Rams season running back roster is down to bare bones with Darrell Henderson, Xavier Jones, Jake Funk, and Otis Anderson Jr. The Rams will also need to reassign the primary kick return duties as well. Otis Anderson Jr. handled the kick return duties for the Rams in the Raiders game, and actually did not do all that bad.  But the Rams will definitely be scanning the waiver wire for another running back, ideally for a 220+ pound player who can move the pile and soften up more physical defenses.

Defensive back

From the moment that the LA Rams added defensive back, Paris Ford, the move was a high reward low-risk signing. A boom-or-bust move, the guy had all of the traits to be either a really impressive player, or not. Unfortunately, the LA Rams discovered that he fell quickly into the second category.

Ford has great instincts, can make plays on the ball, knows how to play football, and breaks on the ball quickly. Unfortunately, NFL defenses are a far more structured enterprise, and Ford’s ball-hawking skills from college made him an easy mark for NFL double moves, speedy receivers, and even big burly tight ends. The downside to Ford was always going to be about harnessing his talents within a more structured defense.

Why was he waived now?

There is simply the fact that some collegiate football players do not transition into the NFL. For the young Paris Ford, this was simply not his time to make that transition. Unlike 2020, when players were given almost no time to indoctrinate to the NFL, 2021 offered every opportunity to absorb all of the necessary skills and techniques. Ford simply could not keep pace with a rather robust safety group, and his departure now can open up new opportunities in either the CFL or other football venues.

What does this mean for the LA Rams?

The LA Rams are actually sitting rather well at the depth of their defensive backfield. They currently have seven players at safety, and nine at cornerback. Of course, there is Jake Gervase, who has cross-trained and played in a hybrid ILB/S role that could be valuable enough to land him a spot on the practice squad this year. The Rams are blessed with riches among their secondary, which is a true testimony to the effectiveness of secondary coach Ejiro Evero and assistant secondary coach Jonathan Cooley.

Quarterback

If there was any reason to believe that the LA Rams added quarterback Devlin Hodges to be more than a camp arm, that was all put to rest at the moment that the team decided to hand over the reins to the second preseason game entirely to Bryce Perkins. In that instant, Hodges was already one foot out the door.

It’s not that Hodges did anything to embarrass himself. It’s simply the fact that the Rams run a rather complex offense and his competition, Bryce Perkins, was spotted an entire year of the subject matter before Hodges ever saw the playbook. Hodges parting here at this spot may not trigger his agent’s phone ringing off the hook, but he will have opportunities later this year if a team must respond to an untimely injury.

Why was he waived now?

Originally expected to play the last preseason game in a bit of a swan song for the Rams, as well as to audition his wares to attract the interest of other NFL teams, his earlier than expected parting may simply be the result of a veteran seeing the writing on the wall and requesting his release now.  On the other hand, it could be an indication that quarterback John Wolford, who has been withheld from preseason games, will be competing in the last preseason game. That would be a wise decision on his part, as Bryce Perkins has looked rather impressive and likely has closed the gap significantly between himself and Wolford on the team’s depth chart.

What does this mean for the LA Rams?

Well, the earlier-than-expected dismissal of Hodges certainly clears the way for a more direct head-to-head comparison between Perkins and Wolford. Even if Wolford retains his backup quarterback role for the 2021 NFL season, it’s likely to eliminate any leverage he may have hoped for in negotiating a new contract extension to remain with the LA Rams in 2022 and beyond.

All told, this wave of roster cuts has done nothing more than trim a bit more of the fat off the team’s roster. But that was to be expected, as the team has added a significant number of young players in the offseason. The final cut will be incredibly dramatic, as the Rams will likely be forced to part ways with defensive backs, linebackers, defensive linemen, wide receivers, and offensive linemen who could be claimed by other teams and actually contribute in 2021.

Sentiment or pragmatism. Loyalty or ruthless competition. The final 27 players released by the LA Rams in a week’s time will be very painful indeed. One more week. One more preseason game. It’s now or never for players on the Rams bubble. Let’s play some football.