Let's talk about Rams roster, and how the team fumbled the plan so far

The LA Rams are 5-6, which is an identical record as the team had at this time in 2023. But those 5-6 Rams felt like a team that had turned the corner. This Rams roster, a team that has lost two of the last three games, is a team that just suffered a TKO at the hands of the visiting Philadelphia Eagles. Somehow, the team must get up off the canvas and be prepared to fight in Week 13.

Optimism is at a low, and skepticism is rampant.

While all NFL fans risk overreacting, Rams fans can see the challenges of the team. While the records are identical, the way the team constructed this roster for the 2024 NFL season is anything but similar. While we can attribute injuries as the factor that depleted the team at key and vital positions, the front office had proven in the past to be on top of the first signs of trouble. In 2024, the response of the front office to a positional shortage has either been to do notion, or shoot from the hip to sign someone.

That someone may or may not help on the football field.

Ultimately, the shopping spree in the 2024 NFL Free Agency market has not improved this team as expected. Part of the blame lies in the fact that some free agents were among the first players injured. But even after returning from injury, many have had career-low seasons on the team this season

As well as the team has done at drafting, the same cannot be said of their free agency shopping. So what has been the problem? It's not one fatal stab wound. Rather, it's been a matter of death by thousands of paper cuts.

So where has the front office fumbled the plan so far? We have a quick five strategies that have not done the Rams any favors:

(5) - Inside linebackers were left out of the strategy

I was deeply disappointed when the Rams football team decided to trade starting veteran inside linebacker Ernest Jones for a bag of chips and a six-pack of soda just before the start of the season. That point was driven home even more when the Tennessee Titans flipped Jones to the NFC West Division rival Seattle Seahawks The Titans got a Round 4 pick plus a starting inside linebacker from the Seahawks, embarrassing the Rams front office and talent evaluation even further.

But the fumble started with what happened next. The Rams roster, now depleted from any drafted inside linebackers, was left scrambling for a tandem of linebackers to handle the 2024 NFL season. The solution was to start two similarly styled linebackers, Troy Reeder and Christian Rozeboom, in what appears to be a decision anchored in NFL experience alone.

The results of that decision seemed to contribute to the team's 1-4 start. When the team replaced an injured Troy Reeder with undrafted rookie Omar Speights, the Rams managed to compete better. But at 5-6, fans are perfectly within their rights to conclude that its a bit too much too little too late.

The Rams had an opportunity to either sign a veteran inside linebacker who could eventually be coached up, or execute a low level trade to pry a backup inside linebacker from another team. When the roster needed an offensive guard or center, the team did not hesitate to act. The team traded for IOL Austin Corbett, IOL Kevin Dotson, and signed IOL Coleman Shelton

The front office failed to act. I love the upside of undrafted rookie ILB Omar Speights. But the defense, to perform at the level fans expect, needed an accomplished veteran, and he never signed with the team.

(4) - Rams shortage in the secondary

The LA Rams front office seems to have the safety position of this defense anchored for the next several seasons. But I cannot say the same thing about the cornerback position. The team drafted CB Tre Tomlinson late in the 2023 NFL Draft, and failed to address the position at all during the 2024 NFL Draft. Was that a mistake? We'll discuss that at a future date. For now, it did create a bit of a struggle for the team for the 2024 NFL season.

Injuries to veteran cornerbacks acted as a catalyst for a struggling secondary. And the impact of multiple injuries to cornerbacks triggered a call to act. But nearly a month later, the team has done nothing. Veteran cornerback Tre'Davious White, one of the veteran free agents signed to the team in hopes of upgrading a suspect pass coverage, failed to deliver.

The Rams did eventually signed former starting cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon to the practice squad, and then to the active roster. But a mid-season addition is always problematic, and Witherspoon was thrown into the vacated role from White. This was no upgrade. It was merely placing a new face on the secondary problem.

Neither Tre'Davious White nor Ahkello Witherspoon has delivered to their career averages.

I don't fault the front office for that. The personnel office tried and missed the mark. That happens. But where the front office had an opportunity to act far more quickly, they balked. The team could have added Ahkello Witherspoon as soon as veteran Darious Williams suffered his hamstring injury. That would have added six or more weeks to his integration.

Sometimes, you get what you pay for. But in the same line of thinking, you get what you don't pay for. The Rams failed to pay for a solid option at cornerback after losing both Derion Kendrick and Darious Williams in training camp. With Tre' Tomlinson also injured, there was no cavalry from either of the past two drafts to help the secondary meet that challenge.

(3) - Rams tight end trap

When the LA Rams lost starting tight end Tyler Higbee during the Wild Card Round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs, the tight end position faced uncertainty for the 2024 NFL season. Rookie tight end Davis Allen pleasantly surprised the team in 2023 with a very efficient by light workload. Veteran TE Hunter Long suffered too many injuries to give the team any idea how well he might fit this team.

But two returning tight ends on top of Higbee seemed to be an adequate supply for the 2024 NFL season. Still, the team faced two players who had only a light workload. So it made sense to add one more rotational player to the ranks. And we even identified an excellent and inexpensive option in the form of former Seattle Seahawks tight end Will Dissly.

Dissly signed a three-year $14-million contract to play for the Los Angeles Chargers. Instead, the Rams opted to sign former Seahawks tight end Colby Parkinson. The Rams signed him to a three-year $22.5-million contract, The problem? Dissly is producing better than Parkinson.

Dissly has 41 catches, nearly an 80 percent catch rate, 399 receiving yards, and one touchdown. Parkinson has 25 catches, less than a 65 percent catch rate, 243 receiving yards, and one touchdown.

The problem is not solely anchored in Parkinson's failure to live up to his contract. The bigger overall problem is the amount of resources that this team has committed to the tight end position. The Rams are currently carrying three tight ends on the active roster, one tight end on injured reserve, and two tight ends on the practice squad. Six players dedicated to a role that typically sees no more than one player at a time engaged in an active role on game day. Huh?

Whenever the Rams deploy the 12-personnel package at least 15 percent of the offensive snaps, the team has won. So why not incorporate two tight-end formations more often? That seems to be a mystery that defies explanation.

The team has overloaded on an underused position. And that has hampered the Rams roster construction for more critically understaffed roles. Like what? Read on

(2) - Time to talk tackles

The LA Rams addressed the interior offensive line with skill and precision this offseason, for the most part. While the future role of IOL Jonah Jackson is uncertain, the team did a remarkable job on paper of restocking the depth of the interior offensive line positions. But the team lost both starting offensive tackles Alaric Jackson and Rob Havenstein to injuries in training camp.

That was a sign for the team to act.

Even as the team did get some quality experience for backup offensive tackles Warren McClendon Jr. and Joe Noteboom, the depth at the position was shattered. The team did scramble to add offensive tackles, but even OT Conor McDermott ended on IR. In essence, the team had a sufficient number of players, but insufficient durability at the position

Is that the fault of the front office? Well, it does point in the direction of decision-makers for the team. The Rams opted to retain IOL Logan Bruss but released an even more promising and versatile offensive lineman Zachary Thomas. who was instantly claimed by the New England Patriots. He has since been released by the Patriots and claimed by the Houston Texans, but he started as an offensive tackle for the Pats.

Despite being released, Zach Thomas has only allowed two quarterback sacks in 2024 in 86 offensive snaps. Joe Noteboom has allowed two quarterback sacks in 2024 in 97 offensive snaps. Warren McClendon Jr. has allowed five quarterback sacks in 2024 in 265 offensive snaps. While Thomas may not scream upgrade, he is a younger and less experienced player who would make a lot of sense on the roster right now.

The Rams must address the offensive tackle position in the 2025 NFL Draft. But decisions made along the way so far this season have complicated that need. Even worse, with other roster decisions, the interior offensive line could be a need in 2024 as well.

(1) - Do Rams really need 4 identical running backs?

In the past two seasons, the LA Rams boasted bigger north-south bigger-bodied backs like RB Sony Michel (5-foot-11, 215 pounds), Royce Freeman (6-foot-0, 238 pounds), Cam Akers (5-foot-10, 217 pounds), and even Zach Evans (5-foot-11, 211 pounds). They are gone, all of them. But it's not for a lack of roster space. The Rams are carrying four running backs on the active 53-man Rams roster.

So what's the problem? All four running backs are almost identical in height, weight, and running style. And that poses a problem. Why? Let's detain who this team has on the roster right now:

• Kyren Williams | 5-foot-9 | 202 pounds | 202 - 822 yards, 9 TDs
• Blake Corum | 5-foot-8 | 210 pounds | 29-106, 0 TDs
• Ronnie Rivers | 5-foot-9 | 192 pounds | 10-51, 0 TDs
• Cody Schraeder | 5-foot- 9 | 214 pounds | 0-0, 0 TDs

Are the Rams wrong in wanting to roster three Kyren Williams clones? Hey, if the team could guarantee that Corum, Rivers, and Schrader could all live up to Williams's example, that would be wonderful. The thing is, they can't.

For starters, nobody is getting a share of the workload. Without reps, there is zero change that anyone can develop into anything more than a great teammate who is okay with sitting on the bench. And that is a problem for the three other running backs and the team overall. But there is a more nefarious objection to this running back room.

If the team needs to soften up an extremely physical defense, who gets sent onto the football field? If the team needs a bigger back to gain the two or three yards needed to move the chains or plunge into the end zone, whose number is called? The answer is, of course, Kyren Williams. Williams can run, but he is starting to cough up the football at an alarming rate. No matter how many rushing yards he churns out, if he fumbles before scoring, it is all wasted effort.

The Rams current roster doesn't have a low-gear type of running back. There is nobody on this team to turn to when the running back gets run over in the manner that Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean bowled over Kyren Williams on his way to sacking QB Matthew Stafford. And that's a problem.

If the Rams ground game was an automobile transmission, the options would be third-gear, fourth-gear, and overdrive. This offense does not have a power back who can be counted on to pancake big-bodied blitzers who have a head of steam on their way to the quarterback. And it's wrong for the Rams to ask small running backs to handle every possible scenario.

Cody Schrader will never smell an offensive snap. Ronnie Rivers will only see action again if Kyren Williams is injured. Even rookie Blake Corum, a Day 2 drafted running back, is still waiting to get some meaningful use in a football game.

The Rams are 5-6. If the reason used to justify the decisions made to this point has done no better than five wins in 11 games, it's time to try some new strategies. If for no other reason than to develop young players to contribute in the future, the team has to do a better job of using the available talent on the roster or finding the talent needed to win.

As always, thank you so very much for reading.

More Rams News and Analysis