Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These 49ers, Cardinals, Rams and Seahawks moves are noted below.
Arizona Cardinals
Signed:
Claimed:
Signed to practice squad:
- WR Andre Baccellia, LB Markus Bailey, LB Krys Barnes, OL Jackson Barton, RB Michael Carter, WR Dan Chisena, CB Jaden Davis, OL Marquis Hayes, OL Keith Ismael, LB Julian Okwara, WR Tejhaun Palmer, QB Desmond Ridder, TE Bernhard Seikovits, DL Ben Stille, CB Divaad Wilson
Los Angeles Rams
Signed:
- DT Neville Gallimore (story)
Claimed:
Waived:
- DT Cory Durden
Placed on IR:
Signed to practice squad:
- OL A.J. Arcuri, OL Justin Dedich, B Zach Evans, TE Miller Forristall, DB Tanner Ingle, DB Shaun Jolly, TE Nikola Kalinic, DB Cam Lampkin, DT Tuli Letuligasenoa, OL Mike McAllister, DT David Olajiga, WR Xavier Smith, WR Drake Stoops, DB Jason Taylor II, OLB Keir Thomas, LB Zach VanValkenburg, WR Sam Wiglusz
San Francisco 49ers
Signed:
- OL Ben Bartch, WR Terrace Marshall Jr., TE Eric Saubert, CB Rock Ya-Sin
Claimed:
Waived:
Placed on IR:
- OL Jon Feliciano, CB Ambry Thomas
Signed to practice squad:
- DE Jonathan Garvin, DB Chase Lucas, S Tracy Walker
Seattle Seahawks
Signed:
Claimed:
Signed to practice squad:
- CB Artie Burns
Here is how the Rams’ initial 53-man roster looks ahead of Sean McVay‘s eighth season:
Waived:
- OL A.J. Arcuri
- OL Justin Dedich
- RB Zach Evans
- TE Miller Forristall
- DB Tanner Ingle
- DB Shaun Jolly
- TE Nikola Kalinic
- DB Cam Lampkin
- DL Tuli Letuligasenoa
- OL Mike McAllister
- DL David Olajiga
- WR Xavier Smith
- WR Drake Stoops
- DB Jason Taylor II
- OLB Keir Thomas
- OL Zachary Thomas
- OLB Zachary VanValkenburg
- WR Sam Wiglusz
Waived/injured:
Placed on IR:
Placed on IR/return designation:
- OL K.T. Leveston
- DL Larrell Murchison
Despite Los Angeles trading Ernest Jones to the Titans, McVay said the team is not looking around at inside linebacker. The Rams kept kept five off-ball LBs — Christian Rozeboom, Troy Reeder, Jacob Hummel, Omar Speights and Elias Neal — and McVay labeled Rozeboom and Reeder as the team’s expected starters. Rozeboom, a former UDFA out of South Dakota State, has made five starts in his three-season career. Reeder, whom the Rams brought back last year after he spent 2022 with the Chargers, has made 31 career starts. Ten of those came during the team’s Super Bowl LVI-winning season. The veteran played only 192 defensive snaps last season. Both Neal and Speights were part of the team’s UDFA contingent this year.
The Rams’ other major piece of injury news emerged earlier today; Tyler Higbee will make the expected trip to the reserve/PUP list. That will knock out the team’s longtime tight end starter for at least four games. Leveston and Murchison are also sidelined for that span, but the Rams’ IR-return moves will lead to two of their eight injury activations being used before Week 1. The NFL greenlit up to two such moves this year, but the Rams have run out of injury activations in the not-so-distant past, exhausting theirs during an injury-flooded 2022 season.
The nephew of Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson, Tre’Vius played 318 special teams snaps as a rookie last year. This development follows Derion Kendrick‘s July ACL tear. The Rams placed Kendrick on IR weeks ago.
With a handful of teams getting eliminated from the playoffs this weekend, those front offices are starting to prepare for the offseason. Here are today’s reserve/futures deals, with the majority coming from recently eliminated squads:
Cleveland Browns
- WR Jaelon Darden, CB Vincent Gray, RB John Kelly, TE Zaire Mitchell-Paden, OT Justin Murray, DE Lonnie Phelps, LB Charlie Thomas III, DE Isaiah Thomas, DT Chris Williams
Dallas Cowboys
- OT Earl Bostick, CB Josh Butler, WR Jalen Cropper, TE Princeton Fant, LB Buddy Johnson, DE Durrell Johnson, WR Racey McMath, DB Sheldrick Redwine
Los Angeles Rams
- OT A.J. Arcuri, G Logan Bruss, DT Cory Durden, LB Olakunle Fatukasi, DB Tanner Ingle, C Mike McAllister, DB Cameron McCutcheon, OT Zachary Thomas, LB Zach VanValkenburg, QB Dresser Winn
Miami Dolphins
- LB Quinton Bell, CB Ethan Bonner, TE Tanner Conner, OT Ryan Hayes, OL Chasen Hines, DT Brandon Pili, WR Braylon Sanders, WR Anthony Schwartz
Minnesota Vikings
Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These 49ers, Cardinals, Rams and Seahawks moves are noted below.
Arizona Cardinals
Claimed:
- C Trystan Colon, TE Elijah Higgins, C Keith Ishmael, T Ilm Manning, DB Starling Thomas, DB K’Von Wallace
Waived:
- WR Daniel Arias, G Marquis Hayes, S Javonte Moffatt, DL Ben Stille, TE Blake Whiteheart
Signed to practice squad:
- QB Jeff Driskel
Los Angeles Rams
Claimed:
Waived:
Signed to practice squad:
- OL A.J. Arcuri, OL Logan Bruss, DT Marquise Copeland, RB Royce Freeman, DB Tanner Ingle, WR Tyler Johnson, TE Nikola Kalinic, OL Mike McAllister, DB Cameron McCutcheon, OL Grant Miller, LB Troy Reeder, QB Brett Rypien, WR Xavier Smith, OLB Keir Thomas II, WR Austin Trammell
San Francisco 49ers
Placed on IR:
- DL Robert Beal, WR Danny Gray
Signed:
- DL Austin Bryant, DL Kerry Hyder
Claimed:
Waived:
Signed to practice squad:
- DT Alex Barrett, FB Jack Colletto, WR Chris Conley, DL Marlon Davidson, TE Troy Fumagalli, OL Alfredo Gutierrez (via International Player Pathway), RB Brian Hill, CB Qwuantrezz Knight, OL Corey Luciano, WR Tay Martin, DL T.Y. McGill, LB Curtis Robinson, WR Willie Snead, CB Tre Swilling, OL Leroy Watson, WR Isaiah Winstead
Seattle Seahawks
Claimed:
- CB Kyu Blu Kelly, LB Drake Thomas
Waived:
Signed to practice squad:
- QB Holton Ahlers, OLB Levi Bell, CB Lance Boykin, CB Artie Burns, T Greg Eiland, DT Matthew Gotel, C Joey Hunt, WR Cade Johnson, RB Bryant Koback, WR Matt Landers, TE Tyler Mabry, LB Patrick O’Connell, S Ty Okada, RB SaRodorick Thompson, WR Easop Winston Jr.
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.
The Rams continue adding to a massive rookie class. After drafting 14 prospects last weekend, Los Angeles has announced the signing of a prodigious 26 undrafted free agents:
- LB Kelechi Anyalebechi, Incarnate Word
- K Tanner Brown, Oklahoma State
- WR Braxton Burmeister, San Diego State
- CB Timarcus Davis, Arizona State
- CB Tyon Davis, Tulsa
- S Collin Duncan, Mississippi State
- K Christopher Dunn, NC State
- RB Tiyon Evans, Louisville
- WR Tyler Hudson, Louisville
- S Tanner Ingle, NC State
- WR Sam James, West Virginia
- OLB Matthew Jester, Princeton
- S Quindell Johnson, Memphis
- CB Jordan Jones, Rhode Island
- C Sean Maginn, Wake Forest
- C Mike McAllister, Youngstown State
- CB Cameron McCutcheon, Western Carolina
- G Grant Miller, Baylor
- TE Christian Sims, Bowling Green
- LB Ryan Smenda, Wake Forest
- WR Xavier Smith, Florida A&M
- LB DeAndre Square, Kentucky
- S Rashad Torrence, Florida
- LS Alex Ward, UCF
- QB Dresser Winn, Tennessee-Martin
- LB Jaiden Woodbey, Boston College
With former kicker Matt Gay now residing in Indianapolis, the Rams have resolved to a kicking competition between Brown and Dunn. Brown had a stellar year with the Cowboys converting 22 of 23 field goal attempts and making all 42 of his extra points. Dunn had an even better 2022, rebounding after 5 missed field goals in 2020 and six misses in 2021. He converted 28 of 29 field goal attempts in 2022 and, over five years with the Wolfpack, never missed one of his 200 extra point attempts.
Gay wasn’t the only special teamer Los Angeles lost. After losing Matthew Orzech to the Packers in free agency, the Rams will give Ward a run at the position. After drafting punter Ethan Evans in the seventh round, Los Angeles is set to have a full rookie special teams unit.
Winn joins the quarterback room behind Matthew Stafford, Stetson Bennett, and Brett Rypien. He threw for nearly 3,000 yards as a sixth-year senior for the Skyhawks with 18 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. The Rams also signed Burmeister, a former starting quarterback at Virginia Tech who transferred to the other coast. Based on his listing with the Rams, he’ll be attempting to switch positions in the NFL.
With only eight linebackers under contract in a base 3-4 defense, the Rams supplemented heavily from the rookie class, drafting three and signing five more undrafted. They similarly added some significant depth at defensive back, drafting two and signing eight more undrafted.
The Rams have a substantial 40 rookies occupying roster spots on the current 90-man roster (which only holds 89 players as of right now). This seems to be a bit emblematic of the Rams recent all-in strategy that resulted in a Super Bowl but left them with a top-heavy roster with hefty contracts. Regardless, it presents many young rookies with clear opportunities for roster spots and playing time.