Despite injury, Puka Nacua expected to suit up in Week 1 vs Lions

Training Camp to Preseason

If training camp contributes anything to a team's preparedness for the upcoming season, it's this: Veterans use the time to re-synch with teammates while learning new playbook wrinkles. After all, veterans are counted on to return to training camp in football shape, so it's merely a matter of reacclimating to football after time away from the game.

For new veterans, the process may be complicated due to new surroundings, but the objective is essentially the same. Resynchronization with players making new plays for new coaches. There is the added twist of coaches on staff familiarizing themselves with new players.

But it becomes a bit more complex for rookies. Now we have the additional steps of players entering the NFL for the first time. That means everything, from the introductions to the regimen of OTAs, mini-camps, training camps, preseason, and if fortunate enough, regular season, is all brand new.

Right now, those players under the top-30 on the roster continue to jockey for position. That can be very competitive, as inevitably the team will run out of roster slots long before the team runs out of worthy players. While some NFL analysts continue to focus on the Rams receiver room as only extending to Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua, and perhaps even Demarcus Robinson, this team has more than those three players as shoe-ins for the 53-man roster right now.

I have and do view this team's WR room a bit differently. While we expect the lion's share of offensive snaps and targets to focus on Kupp and Nacua, I see a larger role for Robinson right out of the gates. His contribution did not begin in 2023 until half the season was gone. I do not see the team making a similar mistake this year. And if the Rams offensive line can congeal with any consistency and continuity, I can see the team making use of Tutu Atwell's blazing speed to keep the back end of defenses honest this season.