After a quiet start to the week for the Los Angeles Rams, they were busy tweaking their roster on Wednesday and Thursday. They lost a handful of starters – most notably Michael Brockers, Dante Fowler and Cory Littleton – but brought back two key pieces on the offensive line with Andrew Whitworth and Austin Blythe. They also declined Nickell Robey-Coleman’s option, making him a free agent.
On Wednesday, they added Leonard Floyd and A’Shawn Robinson to replace Fowler and Brockers, but the real fireworks came on Thursday just before 4 p.m. ET. That’s when they released Todd Gurley and Clay Matthews.
Cutting Gurley was a surprise, but as was the case with Matthews, the Rams needed cap space and saw that as a path to creating some.
That leaves the depth chart looking very different than it did last year, particularly on defense. There’s only one new starter on offense, but six new faces on defense are projected to be at the top of the stack at their respective positions.
Offense
| Position | Starter | Backup | Reserve | Reserve |
| QB | Jared Goff | John Wolford | ||
| RB | Darrell Henderson | Malcolm Brown | John Kelly | |
| WR | Brandin Cooks | Josh Reynolds | ||
| WR | Robert Woods | |||
| Slot WR | Cooper Kupp | Nsimba Webster | Greg Dortch | |
| TE | Tyler Higbee | Gerald Everett | Johnny Mundt | Kendall Blanton
Ethan Wolf |
| LT | Andrew Whitworth | Joe Noteboom | ||
| LG | Joe Noteboom | Austin Corbett | Jeremiah Kolone | |
| C | Brian Allen | Austin Blythe | Coleman Shelton | Nate Trewyn |
| RG | Austin Blythe | Jamil Demby | Chandler Brewer | |
| RT | Rob Havenstein | Bobby Evans |
Darrell Henderson is likely to take over for Gurley at running back, though Malcolm Brown is also under contract and could contribute at that spot, too. The Rams still have the draft, too, where they could add a complementary piece to the backfield.
The only position on the offensive line that’s settled is left tackle with Whitworth. Every other spot will likely be decided in training camp as a large group of youngsters will compete for starting jobs up front.
The wide receiving corps and tight end rooms remain unchanged, but a trade involving Brandin Cooks could still happen and would shake things up even more.