Rams have painfully obvious cut to make after Day 2 of free agency

With the Los Angeles Rams roster filling up pretty quickly, the shopping list for the team in the 2025 NFL Draft appears to be more about adding the best player available than shopping for a specific position. And that is exactly how Rams fans hoped it might turn out. But there are limits to how good a team can become.

The first limit to any team is the fact that the true roster is not 90 players. It's not even the 53-man roster. On game day, NFL teams can only suit up 48 players. And that makes it tough to pack everyone into. So, some solid players will find themselves inactive on occasion. The challenge with that inevitable benching, which players are going to become too costly to bench.

And therein lies the rub. With the Rams roster, the team was a bit 'heavy' throughout the season with four running backs and three tight ends that would ultimately become four tight ends when starting tight end Tyler Higbee returned to health. Carrying four tight ends and four running backs did nothing to aid this offense in scoring. And if the Rams have intentions to aim for more scores, I have to believe that they will not make that mistake again.

But where will the team 'pare' any further? The Rams lost tight end Hunter Long already to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and there is little indication that the Rams will re-sign utility running back Ronnie Rivers. So the team enters the 2025 offseason with three tight ends and three running backs. But wait, there's more . . .

Abundance of rookie talent dictates the next player to be released

If you dare to peer around the corner, you have to believe that the LA Rams will be aiming that 26th overall pick at a tight end. For my money, that could either be Penn State tight end Tyler Warren or Michigan tight end Colston Loveland. And if the Rams are willing to spend a Round 1 pick on a tight end, you have to believe that he will be expected to play in 2025 in a larger than cameo role.

Starting tight end Tyler Higbee proved that he is still the cream of the crop in this offense. And young tight end Davis Allen is simply too affordable to kick to the curb right now. But veteran TE Colby Parkinson, signed a rather handsome contract to produce for three seasons in the Rams offense. And based on the fact that he simply could not earn a consistent role starting while Higbee recuperated is telling. If the Rams are aiming a Round 1 pick at a tight end, or even a Round 3 pick at a tight end, the team has to clear room for that player to grow into.

Unfortunately, that places Colby Parkinson's roster spot in the path of the bulldozer that will inevitably come to clear room for a rookie tight end. I don't suspect that it happens instantly. But if the Rams catch wind of a tight end needy team, or as the time to pare down to the 53-man roster approaches, the Rams will almost certainly aim for trading or releasing Parkinson.

Of course, the team can toss me a curve ball and aim at a running back. If that happens, I'd have to ponder how the team adapts to one more runner who will sit on the bench. But this feels like the season that the Rams land a tight end. And if Colby Parkinson's spot on the team has to be forfeited to make it happen, so be it.

As always, thanks for reading.

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