7 Rams must defy the odds and win a 2024 roster spot, even Stetson Bennett?

Last Hurrah. Last Stand. Do or Die Time. I can portray the situation of these seven LA Rams players in any number of ways, but the cliche's all come to the same conclusion. Whether due to the limits of the annual salary cap, the limits of the 53-man active roster, or the need to make way for promising young talent, these veterans are on the ropes.

It's odd to say that, because some are still playing on their own four-year rookie contract.

But time waits for no man. The National Football League is the epitome of professional football. To participate, players eventually have to win competitions or make way for those who can. Many fans think of that competition as the final score of a Super Bowl, Playoff games, or even regular season games. But the true competition is about to start. It's the annual summer training camp.

In a matter of days, all 32 NFL teams will task their coaching staff with two very different roles. The first role is the tradiitonal role that we all think of: Communication, teaching, instructing, encouraging, and mentoring. Whether the player is a seasoned veteran, training camp is a time to learn new tricks, plays, and risk failure to ensure that come gameday, the techniques have been perfected.

But the other role is scorekeeper, evaluator, test administrator, examiner, analyst, and assessor. Those same coaches must determine the optimal 53 players of the 90 man roster who can remain, while releasing 37 players who did not pan out for one reason or another. For the LA Rams roster and the coaches responsible for recommending players to keep and players to part ways, this year's cut-down day will absolutely have some shocking surprises in store. This roster is simply too talented and too deep to keep everyone.

But the good news is that after 37 players are given their release, the team can turn around and sign 16 of the players back to the 2024 Rams practice squad. So the breakdown is this:

• Active 53-man LA Rams roster
• 16-man LA Rams practice squad
• 21 players released

We had named five players who found themselves on the roster bubble after the 2024 NFL Draft. But with OTAs and mini camps now a thing of the past, have any players improved their chances?

While we will be making our projections soon over who will end up in each category, we have identified seven veterans who, but the reasons stated above, are in the fight of their lives to return to the team's active roster this season. And they are: