LA Rams increase roster by signing a dozen familiar faces

It was only a matter of time after the LA Rams played their final football game before the front office began to clear the table, wash the dishes, and set new place settings for the 2022 NFL season feast. In other words, the LA Rams went about their annual housekeeping tasks of signing players who were on the practice squad to reserve/futures contracts.

That bit of activity is the first step to a very long laundry list of tasks that awaits this team. And yet, in many ways, it is a very important step. NFL teams, in the task of finding the best fits for their next season’s active roster, are permitted to work with up to 90 players through Optional Team Activities (OTAs) and training camp.

2022 roster limits

In 2022, the new NFL/NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement will raise the maximum number of players authorized for the practice squad to 14. That may seem a bit anti-climatic, as the league had authorized 16 players to practice squads in each of the past two seasons due to the risks of large numbers of players testing positively on NFL teams simultaneously. That meant that teams were temporarily permitted to increase practice squads from their established levels of 12 to 16.

That increased number of 16 may apply for 2022 as well.

Of course, the LA Rams participate in the International Pathway Program and have been assigned Max Pircher (Italy) as a result. The rules of the IPP allow an exemption to the 90 player limit (90+1) until teams establish their active roster. At that time, the team can waive the player and, if he clears waivers, can sign him to the practice squad as an exemption (for now, that would mean 14+1).

Okay, enough about rules and regulations. What about the Rams roster?

Rams roster

The LA Rams had already signed rookie OC Drake Jackson and rookie OT Adrian Ealy to reserve/future contracts. After the team had won their last game of the season, to finish out with a record of 16-5, the front office immediately converted almost the entire practice squad (sans special team specialists) to reserve future contracts:

Now, before we delve into the analysis of the individual players, let’s just take a broad stroke to consider the positional composition of the 14 players who the organization is carrying over to the 2022 NFL season?

Positional depth considerations

Right now, the LA Rams have committed to five defensive players, and nine offensive players to join the active roster in OTAs and training camp in 2022. That breaks down to:

Defense (5)

Defensive ends (2) – Earnest Brown IV, Jonah Williams
Defensive backs (3) – Antoine Brooks Jr, Kareem Orr, Tyler Hall

Offense (9)

Offensive Linemen (5) – IOL Drake Jackson, IOL Jeremiah Kolone, OT Adrian Ealy, OT Chandler
Brewer, OT Max Pircher (IPP)
Running Back (1) – Javian Hawkins
Tight end (1) – Kyle Markway
Wide Receivers (2) – Landen Akers, J.J. KoskiB

Injured Reserve additions

There is really no ideal spot to discuss players who are returning to the roster from injured reserve in 2022, so we will mention them here. Keep in mind that if a player is cut or released from the team due to an injury designation, and clears waivers, that player will return the following season. So let’s give a quick perusal to players who will return to the team in 2022 from IR as well:

Defense (1)

Defensive back (1) – Jordan Fuller, Robert Rochell

Offense (7)

Offensive Linemen (1) – Jamil Demby
Running Back (2) – Raymond Calais, Xavier Jones
Tight End (2) – Jacob Harris (TE/WR), Tyler Higbee
Wide Receiver (2) – Robert Woods, Tutu Atwell

Okay. So, in addition to the 53-man active roster less outbound free agents, the Rams organization will welcome back approximately 22 players to the OTAs and training camp next season. That’s a hefty busload. So while we all digest that information, let’s dig into who the Rams have decided to add to via reserve/futures contracts?

The two you knew

The front offices of NFL teams strive towards having a stable inflow of NFL talent in order as well as their goal to try to keep a steady outflow of talent. Sometimes the inbound talent is greater, and you have an upgrade at a position. Sometimes the outbound talent is greater, and you have a decline in the team’s performance. That cannot always be avoided. But what can be avoided is a simultaneous loss of multiple players from the same position, a situation that places a great deal of pressure to restock the roster quickly.

For the LA Rams roster, that situation could be taking place at multiple positions on the offensive line. Right now, the team’s two offensive centers: Brian Allen and Coleman Shelton; have contracts that will expire at the end of this NFL season.  As if that was not bad enough, the LA Rams face the imminent retirement of venerable offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, and the expired contract of his backup, Joseph Noteboom. The Rams even face the loss of starting right guard Austin Corbett.

Who ya got?

Even if the LA Rams do reach into their bag of tricks to extend a player or two, they’ll still experience a shortage in training camp. So the team had made it a point to retain two promising young players who were brought in to augment the team’s roster during the outbreak of COVID-19. Now, the team will take a longer look at them, work with them, and determine whether either or both, are worth adding to the mix for the 2022 NFL season.

Of course, unlike the situation of 2021, the LA Rams offensive line coach Kevin Carberry is very familiar with his players and knows very specifically what he is looking for from players who are added to the roster going forward. Look for the unit to get a rather rapid transformation, as Carberry will seek to infuse his style of players in the offensive line this season.

Offensive linemen (2)

The Rams signed offensive center Drake Jackson to a reserve/futures contract in January 2022. So what are we to make of that? Well, the truth of the matter is that the team had to sign a center. With both Allen and Shelton due to leave, the Rams would be down to just Jeremiah Kolone on the roster as someone who had snapped the football in 2021.  Drake Jackson, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 292-pounds, is a smaller but very athletic offensive lineman.

He would be an ideal backup to Coleman Shelton, a player who had remarkable success subbing in to start for the Rams in 2022. Unlike bigger-bodied centers, smaller centers tend to be quicker out of their stances, more powerful with their initial pop, and more capable of penetrating to get blocks on secondary and tertiary defenders on running plays.

The team signed offensive tackle Adrian Ealy to a reserve/futures contract in February 2022. Ealy is every bit the man-mountain required to hold the outside of an offensive line. He stands 6-foot-6 and weighs in at 321 pounds. What A.J. Jackson is for the left tackle position, Ealy is for the right tackle position.

Ealy can and has played both offensive tackle positions. Such versatility makes him an ideal addition to the Rams roster for the foreseeable future. Since he was with the team previously, I look for Ealy (much like Jackson) to stick with the Rams in some capacity in 2022. Whether that is the active roster or as a developmental player on the practice squad, the Rams have plans for Adrian Ealy.

More offensive linemen (3)

The LA Rams were prompted to add offensive lineman Jeremiah Kolone to the practice squad when Jamil Demby suffered an undisclosed injury. Kolone stands 6-foot-3 and weighs in at 316-pounds. Unlike many of the Rams offensive linemen, Kolone is a true interior offensive lineman by trade and was signed by the team as an undrafted rookie after the 2018 NFL Draft.  While he has yet to see playing time, he has been a staple of the team’s practice squad. Could this be the year for a larger role?

The LA Rams have held high regard for offensive tackle Chandler Brewer since he signed on with the team after the 2019 NFL Draft. His career so far has been a whirlwind so far. In 2019, Brewer was recovering from chemotherapy and yet was still promoted to the active roster. In 2020, due to health concerns re: COVID-19, Brewer exercised his right to ‘opt-out‘. In 2021, he was back but was unable to make headway to earning an active roster spot.

Brewer could find a more significant role with the team in 2022. With the team projected to part ways with up to five offensive linemen, and with the coaching staff so high on Brewer, he would be a logical addition to the roster in 2022. Brewer is a 6-foot-6 319-pound offensive lineman who is versatile enough to plug and play at any offensive lineman position. That could earn him a roster role this year.

LA Rams offensive lineman Max Pircher was awarded to the team as part of the International Player Pathway Program. Standing 6-foot-7 and weighing 300-pounds, Pircher possesses all of the size and raw power of a successful offensive lineman. Now, he simply needs to develop the instincts and skillsets necessary. After a year of watching and learning from the likes of Andrew Whitworth and Rob Havenstein, Pircher could be in store to step up to the next level this season.

Offensive skill players (2)

While the presence of running back Javian Hawkins has not aided the LA Rams offense just yet, I wouldn’t count him out of the mix going forward. In spite of the hopes and optimism of the LA Rams rushing offense throughout the 2021 NFL season, the Rams simply were ineffective at running the football. Of course, that may have been due to the rampant injuries that impacted Cam Akers, Darrell Henderson Jr., Xavier Jones, Raymond Calais, Buddy Howell, and even rookie Jake Funk.

Hawkins is along the line of a Henderson type of runner. Standing 5-foot-9 and weighing 196-pounds, he is a fast and elusive running back whose strength is getting past defenders by getting around them, rather than through them. He was a rookie out of Louisville, originally signing on with the Atlanta Falcons before finding his way to the Rams roster. With so many players banged up in 2021, look for him to have a larger role in 2022 as one of the few who remained healthy.

Tight end time

When the LA Rams were in the market for a tight end, it only made sense for them to look up TE Kyle Markway, a former South Carolina Gamecock who has signed on with the New York Giants after the 2020 NFL Draft. Of course, Running Back Coach Thomas Brown was rather familiar with his former player and no doubt directed the Rams to sign him when he was waived.

Markway is a robust 6-foot-4 and weighs 250-pounds. For much of 2021, he was a player who was at the tail end of the practice squad roster. When the Rams needed to make room, he was waived. When the Rams were able to free up an extra roster spot? He was re-signed to the roster. After the Rams’ 2021 experience of several injuries to the tight end position, Markway could find that he has a chance to compete for a larger role on the Rams roster in 2022.

More wide receivers (2)

If there was one role that the LA Rams truly needed to develop, it was the role of wide receiver.  Not just catching passes, but in the special teams’ areas of fielding punts and returning kickoffs as well. Try as he might, WR Landen Akers simply was unable to deliver the goods in time for the Rams quickly enough to earn a roster spot.

Akers (no, not Cam. The other one) stands 6-foot-0 and weighs 191-pounds. He is a speedy sucker, running a 4.39-second 40-yard dash time. The trouble is that he joined the roster as an undrafted rookie, was buried on the depth chart as soon as he arrived, and never really jumped off the page. But he is coming back for another shot. And this time, he knows what to expect. That could make all the difference.

Koski material

As we’ve assessed the past two seasons and the potential of players who stood to have a shot at making the Rams roster, we have not seen that upside in wide receiver J.J. Koski. And yet here we are, with him entering his third season with the team, and he remains long after players thought to possess more talent or have a better fit with the team are long gone.

Koskie is 6-foot-1 and weighs in at 195 pounds. While not blessed with blinding speed, he runs a 4.54-second 40-yard dash, he is blessed with NFL quickness and can change direction to create separation enough for the quarterback to get the ball into his hands. He was given a chance on special teams at returning both punts and kickoffs, but he was not quite ready for the responsibility.  That could change in 2022.  After all, the Rams are sticking with Koski for a reason.

Defensive linemen (2)

When the LA Rams drafted defensive end Earnest Brown IV in 2021, the opportunity to make the roster was always going to be quite an uphill battle. Even with both DE Morgan Fox and Michael Brockers parting ways with the team, the front offense had stashed a number of very talented players on the practice squad the previous year.

The Rams typically carry six defensive linemen on the roster to handle the duties of their 3-4 defensive front. Brown was not quite enough of a difference-maker in 2021 to crack the team’s 53-man roster. But that could change this year as the team will look to restock the roster after another wave of players tests their market value in free agency.

The team did not spend a draft pick on their defensive end, Jonah Williams, in 2020. And the 6-foot-5 275-pound defensive end has already seen his share of playing time. In 2021, he saw action on a limited basis in eight games on 96 defensive snaps and was able to record five tackles for the team in that time.

Williams had a good preseason in 2021, so even without showing up often in 2021, it’s fair to expect him to have a strong preseason in 2022. And the unorthodox roster-building techniques of this team could mean that the Rams have an unexpected opening for a defensive end. But the most likely scenario is that Williams gets more playing time the old-fashioned way: By earning it.

Shoring up the secondary

The LA  Rams used defensive back Antoine Brooks Jr. exclusively on special teams in 2021, and that may be enough to earn him a spot on the team’s active roster in 2022. But he offers more than that. He is blessed with the size, power, and skillset to fill the niche role in this Rams defense of a Super Saiyan role, the big-hitting safety who can play at an inside linebacker spot on passing downs. He will be someone to keep an eye on.

The Rams also added defensive back Kareem Orr in 2021. He had spent two years with the Tennessee Titans but found his way to the LA Rams roster this past season. Orr had a strong preseason, and we expected him to be a dependable contributor in the Rams secondary late in the season. That did not come to fruition yet, but he will have another chance to train and come back even stronger for the team in 2022.

The LA Rams also made use of defensive back Tyler Hall exclusively on special teams’ coverage units. While that did not allow Hall to get his foot in the door, it did ensure that he remained with the team throughout the 2021 NFL season and will be coming back in 2022 to have another crack at earning a spot on the team’s roster. In 2020, he played for the Atlanta Falcons and was undoubtedly quite familiar with Raheem Morris’ defensive philosophy. The LA Rams need help in the secondary, and Hall could provide that.

So there you go. That is the current list of players signed to rejoin the team through the 2022 NFL season, at least through OTAs, training camp, and perhaps through preseason games. There will be plenty of comings and goings to and from the Rams roster. But this is a good first step.