LA Rams Roster cuts: The calm before the imminent storm

The LA Rams have placed their OTAs, training camp, and now three preseason games behind them. Now comes the ultimate test of the coaching staff: Determining which players stay, which players are best stashed on the practice squad, and which players are gone. That challenge faces 32 NFL teams right now and impacts the careers of 864 players.

So yeah, this is kind of a big deal.  More than a third of the NFL player workforce will suddenly be parting ways from their NFL team. For the LA Rams, despite the fact that this was a far more formalized process than a mere year ago, there still didn’t seem to be enough time.

For the Rams roster, cuts may even be deeper.  Per my offseason scorecard, the LA Rams may still need that one last offensive lineman and one more running back. If that’s true, then the LA Rams will waive 29 players and keep just 51 on the roster before restoring the number to 53. And the Rams will have 16 players to add to the practice squad.

Will the Rams deal anyone? Well, in theory, they could. While there is only enough room on the roster for one punter, the fact that there is a priority to the waiver wire could incentivize some NFL teams to part ways with a late draft pick to ensure that they get any specific player who won’t make the LA Rams roster. Who might fall into that category? Well, the Rams may be parting ways with former starting inside linebacker Micah Kiser, former starting offensive tackle Bobby Evans, and even former punter Johnny Hekker.

Rams roster

With only a few exceptions, players who saw sufficient playing time against the Denver Broncos are bubble players who will likely not make the final roster. Of course, there are exceptions. Kicker Matt Gay will be the LA Rams kicker in 2021 and showcased a near-perfect night by kicking four of four field goals to tune-up for the regular season. His lone blemish? On one kickoff, the Broncos were able to return the ball 29 yards.

His placeholder for the evening, punter Corey Bojorquez, had an even better night. Bojorquez punted five times for 277 yards, with the best being a 70-yard boomer that went out of bounds at the Broncos’ one-yard line.  No punt was returned for positive yards. For the night? Bojorquez averaged 55.4 yards. That is nearly 10 yards per punt longer than Hekker’s 2020 average, and that does not include punt returns.

Today will, for the most part, focus upon the players who have put it all on the line. All deserve to be applauded. For every NFL superstar, there are 10 players who must sit and await the news of whether or not they remain with the team that they’ve trained with for months. For our part, we acknowledge that this is not an easy task, but rather the gatekeeping task that ensures that the team will remain successful.

In the next 48 hours, the LA Rams team will part ways with a third of the roster. 24 hours after that, over half will return to the team’s practice squad. This will be a fast-paced action-packed period of time, and we’ll be here to try bringing you the latest news as it develops. Buckle up and stay tuned.