Don’t rule out additional LA Rams roster moves, despite last on waivers

The LA Rams have made all necessary roster transactions to achieve the maximum 53-player limit by the 1:00 pm PT deadline imposed by the NFL. So now that the Rams have their initial 53-man roster established, that’s it, right?

Actually no.  We already know that the Rams have at least one roster transaction due to be made as soon as Wednesday, and more may follow. You see, in order for the team to establish players on the short-term Injured Reserve/Designated to Return list, those players must first appear on the team’s initial 53-man roster.

Players who transition off the roster to injured reserve are lost for the season. The LA Rams’ example of that is rookie offensive lineman Logan Bruss, who was moved to Injured Reserve and will not be eligible to play until 2023.

Other roster designations like PUP (physically unable to perform) or NFI (non-football injury) are designations that must be applied to a player before initial roster cuts. Those players will not count on the team’s 53-man roster, but cannot compete for the first four games of the season.

Once they are deemed healthy enough to return, they are moved to the IR/Designated to Return list and the clock begins to countdown for 21 days, the time allowed for the team to revert the player to the 53-man roster.

The Rams have Travin Howard on the Reserve/NFI list and Quentin Lake on the Reserve/PUP list. Finally, Bobby Brown III has been suspended for six weeks.

As we had said, the Rams will be assigning OLB Daniel Hardy to short-term Injured Reserve as quickly as they can. That will open at least one roster spot. The team may also move WR Van Jefferson to short-term Injured Reserve as well. That could open two roster spots for the Rams to fill with talented veterans waived by other teams.

The only problem? The LA Rams waiver wire order is 32nd out of 32 teams.  In other words, the LA Rams come in dead last on the waiver wire.

So it won’t be easy. But when has it ever been a cakewalk for the LA Rams?