LA Rams: Why trading for RB Sony Michel is such a Les Snead move

Well, if you didn’t foresee the LA Rams making a move to bolster their running back ranks, then you haven’t been doing a good job of keeping up with the latest and greatest information out there. After all, the LA Rams have lost both running back Cam Akers and Raymond Calais for what many expect is the season. The move to add Sony Michel was almost a sure thing.

Complicating matters further, the Rams have tried to bubble wrap projected starting running back Darrell Henderson to ensure he will be healthy for the 2021 season, but he has already suffered his third minor injury of the 2021 season and is now day-to-day as he fights through a thumb injury. The LA Rams, who began the season with six running backs, are already down to just three healthy rushers and still have a final preseason game to play.

The Rams were very much expected to bolster their running back ranks with another rusher, but due to the financial situation, were expected to claim a waived player at the final roster cuts on August 31.  It was the Rams wheelhouse move, a tactic use to add former RB/KR Raymond Calais to the roster a year ago off the waiver wire of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The strategy added a player with defined contract terms, allowing the Rams data analytics people to calculate the best economic value.

Even that strategy became more complicated as the Jacksonville Jaguars lost a running back for the season. The Jaguars would have a higher priority than the LA Rams for any player on the waiver wire, so the Rams regrouped and decided that a trade was in order. So why Sony Michel? Why indeed.