Should we clap for the Wolfman? LA Rams won't reunite with QB John Wolford

Are the LA Rams getting the band back together? After a pattern of parting ways with familiar faces in 2022, the Rams have reversed their position and their polarity less that one year later. While I cannot argue the strategy, I do wonder why a team that was so willing to part with players less than 12 months ago can do such an about face across the board.

The latest almost-reunion for the LA Rams is the addition of former backup quarterback John Wolford to the Rams roster off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad. The Rams wanted to add Wolford to ensure that the Rams at least have two healthy quarterbacks heading into a Week 9 contest against the Green Bay Packers in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The LA Rams began to reunite with former players starting in 2022. That's when the Rams added DB Troy Hill and RB Malcolm Brown to the team. This year, both are gone, but the Rams have added DB John Johnson III, RB Darrell Henderson Jr., and now backup quarterback John Wolford.

Yo-yo personnel management really isn't fair to the players

I understand that the Rams need a quarterback who is familiar with their offense, players, and coaches. Those same factors that justify bringing back John Wolford are the same factors that justified bringing back Darrell Henderson Jr. But the LA Rams should never have gotten here.

If backup John Wolford deserves to return, then he deserved to return before he hit free agency. While I understand the interest of this team to draft a young quarterback, nothing that we have seen from backup quarterback Brett Rypien says upgrade over John Wolford.

The second-guessing, parting ways with players who are re-signed less that a year later is not a positive sign. It feels directionless, as though the personnel decisions made by the LA Rams are more knee-jerk reactions than strategic in nature.

Perhaps that is why the LA Rams find their payroll in need of deep cleansing from so much committed dead cap salary dollars time and time again. The Rams seem to commit to a player, reverse course on that player, and now apparently want players back again.

Current QB quagmire could have been avoided

With no new news about Stetson Bennett, and his return unlikely before November 12, 2023, the LA Rams knew that they ran a risk of carrying just two quarterbacks on the roster. And by passing so heavily in the games against the Cincinnati Bengals (33 passes, 6 sacks) and the Philadelphia Eagles (37 passes, 4 sacks), the Rams amplified the risk of starting quarterback Matthew Stafford falling to another untimely injury.

Should we clap for the Wolfman? It appears as though the LA Rams won't reunite with QB John Wolford after all. Let's not kid ourselves, the Rams' interest in Wolford was under far less than favorable circumstances. The Rams had every opportunity to keep John Wolford on the roster at the end of the 2022 NFL season but chose not to do so. Now, the Rams must search for another option for Week 9.

That simply seems to be a very inefficient means of managing an NFL roster. But beyond that, it seems unfair to the players as well.