8 LA Rams players who won’t be back in 2022

Player 5- Don’t call us, we’ll call you

For the life of me, I really do not have a logical answer to why the LA Rams insist on keeping tight end Brycen Hopkins on the 53-man roster but doing so little with him. In two seasons, he has played 76 snaps on special teams, and 61 snaps on offense. Over that time frame, he has caught one pass for nine yards.

All of that out of nearly two seasons on the active roster? That can’t be right, can it?

The concept behind drafting Hopkins seems to have been about finding a replacement for outbound tight end Gerald Everett. Only, when Everett did leave, the Rams offense jumped the tracks on using two receiver-type tight ends, and instead opted to go with a blocking tight end in 12 personnel packages.

The matter became even more complicated when the team lost blocking TE Johnny Mundt to injury. Instead of working Brycen Hopkins into the rotation, the team signed practice squad TE Kendall Blanton and worked him into the offense.

Fish or cut bait

Even when the LA Rams were without Tyler Higbee in Weeks 14 and 15 due to COVID-19 restrictions, the offense played Hopkins but chose not to use him in the passing game.  The short and skinny version of Hopkins is that when the LA Rams needed him to step up, they opted to go in a different direction. This is not his rookie season, mind you. This is his second season on the roster.

Of course, it could simply be a matter of not having an opportunity to earn trust in the passing game until he is given some trust to work with. After all, he has been targetted just once and did manage to catch that pass. So it could be that at some point, he will be revealed as some offensive secret weapon who could catch passes all along. But if that happens, he will surprise more than opposing defenses.

It’s truly about fish or cut bait. The value of occupying a spot on an NFL team’s 53-man roster should carry some burden of either improving, contributing, or ensuring the team is insured in case of an emergency. So far, none of those criteria have been met by Brycen Hopkins. How long will he get a free pass? I can’t see the team sticking with him in 2022 if he doesn’t show promise soon.