The Rams did a bit of work yesterday in moving towards the 53-man deadline. Here are the additional moves the team made today to get down to the max roster number to start the season:
Waived:
- OL AJ Arcuri
- K Tanner Brown
- OL Logan Bruss
- DE T.J. Carter
- OLB Daniel Hardy
- DB Quindell Johnson
- WR Tyler Johnson
- TE Nikola Kalinic
- OL Mike McAllister
- DB Cameron McCutcheon
- OL Grant Miller
- DB Robert Rochell
- WR Xavier Smith
- OLB Keir Thomas
- WR Austin Trammell
- QB Dresser Winn
- LB Jaiden Woodbey
Waived/injured:
- DB De’Andre Square
- DB Rashad Torrence
Released:
- DT Marquise Copeland
- RB Royce Freeman
- QB Brett Rypien
It appears that fourth-round rookie draft pick Stetson Bennett won out in the battle for the backup quarterback job, leading to the expendability of Rypien and Winn. Youth similarly won out at the running back spot as rookie Zach Evans and second year backs Kyren Williams and Ronnie Rivers beat out the veteran backup in Freeman. On defense, Copeland is bit of a surprise after starting nine games last year for the Rams.
The special teams room is quite intriguing for now. The room was looking to hold three rookies before the above waiver of the undrafted Oklahoma State kicker Brown. Seventh-round rookie punter Ethan Evans and undrafted rookie long snapper Alex Ward remain on the roster, but without Brown, the Rams will need to look into adding a new kicker out of the free agent market. Or they may attempt to follow the recent trends and trade for one.