LA Rams run risk of forfeiture, NFL must postpone game

The LA Rams, as well as the Cleveland Browns and Washington Football Team, have reached their breaking points. When the NFL and NFLPA sat down to determine the appropriate safety protocols for COVID-19, there is no doubt that both sides did their utmost best to ensure that NFL players’ health and safety would be their top priority.

The hope was that deploying both standard and intensive protocols for COVID-19 would ensure player safety, and minimize the spread of the disease to within acceptable tolerance levels.  That 101-page document can be found here.

The Rams flipped from their standard to intensive protocol as required as soon as the team recognized the spread of the disease. For a list of what each level requires, here is a useful chart that illustrates those differences. But with the team at 25 players on Reserve/COVID-19 and nine players on Injured Reserve, the LA Rams currently have just 34 players on the active 53-man roster as per the official team website as of the morning of December 17, 2021.

Rams schedule cannot support current roster limitations

That’s beyond ridiculous. And the challenge for the Rams is not just showing up with nearly half their roster for game day, but due to the fact that new players are added to the list on a daily basis, the team does not even know who will be healthy enough to suit up.

Right now, the team is down to four healthy defensive backs, but still has a full contingency of three healthy quarterbacks. Does that mean that the NFL expects a backup quarterback to defend passes in the LA Rams secondary on Week 15?

So far, the LA Rams have added players to their Reserve/COVID-19 list as follows:
December 11 (1)- RB Darrell Henderson Jr.
December 12 (2)- DB Donte Deayon, RT Rob Havenstein
December 13 (2)- DB Jalen Ramsey, TE Tyler Higbee
December 14 (8)- WR Odell Beckham Jr., DB Terrell Burgess, DB Jordan Fuller, DB Tyler Hall, DB Juju Hughes, TE Brycen Hopkins, OL A.J. Jackson, DT Sebastian Joseph Day (IR), PS Jonah Williams.
Reinstated TE Tyler Higbee
December 15 (3)- LB Justin Hollins, TE Johnny Mundt (IR), TE Jared Pinkney
December 16 (9)- OL Tremayne Anchrum Jr., DB Antoine Brooks, OL Bobby Evans, DB Jake Gervase, OLB Von Miller, OLB Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, DB Kareem Orr, ILB Troy Reeder, ILB Christian Rozeboom

25 players in all, and there is no evidence that it will stop there. So when will the LA Rams fail to meet the minimum roster requirements for game day? Is there a limit to how low the Rams can go before the game is forfeit? Yes, and the Rams are way too close for comfort.

Will Rams meet the minimum roster requirement?

So now it comes down to the players who have remained healthy, right? After all, players who have tested positive for COVID-19 are not following some balanced quota or pre-written script. Quite the contrary. The Rams have been hit hard in the secondary and at the linebacker positions, two areas that were already pushing to get as much as possible out of the current rotation.

Even if the team empties their entire practice squad, which is down to 13 players, the Rams only have 47 possible players to suit up for Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks. Oh, by the way, the team just added Greg Stroman mere hours before this article was published.

Where are we going with this? The LA Rams are just a handful of players away from not even being able to field a team. That’s completely ignoring the competitiveness of the team. We’re talking about the ability to field the league minimum of 44 players. And that is if the team activates all the practice squad players in time.

There has never been a forfeit in the NFL. That has been confirmed by NFL Network’s Andrew Siciliano in a recent broadcast. So where does that leave the LA Rams? Between a rock and a hard place apparently. You see, the Rams would need to activate virtually every available player to meet the minimum number to even hold the game. It makes zero sense for the team to go through that much work to compete in a game against such insurmountable odds, and risk injury to their remaining roster.

NFL Schedule is tight

The Rams are close to the end of the season, with four games scheduled weekly. Right now, delaying this game a day or two does not appear to offer much in the way of relief.  Of course, the Seattle Seahawks and LA Rams could play after the end of the season, but that would impact the schedule for the NFL Playoffs.

But let’s view this from an NFL marketing perspective. Does it really bode well for the NFL to pit the Seattle Seahawks against a patchwork LA Rams team that has followed all the rules and protocols? For that matter, is it wise for the NFL to put the Rams, the Cleveland Browns, and the Washington Football team at such a competitive disadvantage?

The LA Rams face the unique challenge of time-sharing SoFi Stadium with the LA Chargers. So there is that additional complexity of any effort to reschedule the LA Rams game so as to allow for the Chargers to maintain their schedule as well.

Stop the insanity

But, let’s be clear. The NFL cannot sit back and observe this issue. The LA Rams are down 25 players. Washington and Cleveland are down 21 players. This is not an issue facing just one team. Since it is rapidly growing into a league-wide matter, it needs a league-wide response.

This is not the WWE folks. There are no ‘handicap’ matches in the NFL. This is not a Hell-In-A-Cell, a Royal Rumble, or any other poorly conceived marketing gimmick. This is the NFL, and the games played now have an incredible bearing on which team does, and does not, make it to the postseason. There is no way that any executive of the NFL could possibly expect 34 rostered players to face 48 players from the opposing team. Not even an exhibition game would dare that type of lopsidedness.

In a memo sent out by the NFL to teams in June 2021, the league office stated the following:

"“If a club cannot play due to a Covid spike in vaccinated individuals, we will attempt to minimize the competitive and economic burden on both participating teams.” – per Around The NFL writer Kevin Patra"

It’s time for a sane approach here. Delay the contests of Week 15 and place them at the back of the season. This is not a hiccup that affects one careless team. Rather, this is a new reality and the NFL needs to get their act together on this one. There is no other way around that right now. Inconvenient? Yes.

But let’s not confuse the angst of rescheduling a game to ensure a fair competitive contest with the insanity of asking a half-strength LA Rams roster to take on the Seahawks at full strength. I’d sooner the Rams not show up if that is the case.