LA Rams hope delayed game will translate into getting players back

For the integrity of the game and the safety of the players

But let’s climb down out of the treetops to focus on the here and now. The NFL is comprised of 32 professional football teams, currently made up of support staff, coaching staff, and players. For the 2021 NFL season, NFL teams have been capped at 53 players on the active 53-man roster, and 16 players on the practice squad.

As of the morning of Saturday, December 18, 2021, the LA Rams had just 33 players on the active roster, and 11 players on the practice squad. That’s just 44 players out of 69 who are healthy enough to play. That’s why the NFL had to step in. There is not just a risk of pitting inexperienced players en masse onto a football game against an experienced team creating bad optics.  The greater risk is that all of those bodies flying around in a game could lead to serious injuries to the players.

The teams who remain relatively healthy but have been impacted by the move, the Seattle Seahawks, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Las Vegas Raiders, are less than happy that their schedule is impacted as a result of postponing the game. Of course, the NFL had every opportunity to avoid this by pre-planning, essentially creating a second bye-week to allow for a rescheduled game, in much the same way that snow days are baked into school calendars to allow for inclimate weather.

But aside from the frustrations of inconvenience (a frustration that is, for all intents and purposes, unavoidable), the need to reschedule games was not about the almighty dollar, nor about giving teams heavily impacted by spikes in COVID related cases an undue advantage. This is about keeping all players safe and healthy, regardless of their COVID status, and that is where the line must be drawn.