From top to bottom, everyone on the Rams’ roster will benefit from the team’s second scrimmage at SoFi Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Jared Goff will get work with the starters, while the backups will get plenty of opportunities in the second half of the game.
As important as this intrasquad matchup will be for the first-team offense and defense, it’ll be even more crucial for those on the roster bubble fighting to make the 53-man team.
Sean McVay was asked Thursday what he hopes to see from the scrimmage, and he put an emphasis on the Rams’ younger players getting a big opportunity to showcase themselves in front of coaches.
“Just good, crisp execution on both sides. You want to limit the self-inflicted wounds, the pre-snap penalties. Whether it’s jumping offsides offensively or defensively. You want to see guys play with the right fundamentals and techniques, communicate at a high level,” he said. “Just as important as anything is kind of getting comfortable with that rhythm and routine. Staying at a new team hotel the night before and just being comfortable getting to the stadium, where they park, and how they’re getting to the locker room. As you guys saw, that’s quite a stadium. So, I just want to get all those things that sometimes you take for granted in a year where you don’t have those preseason opportunities to usually get that stuff figured out. That’s as big a part of this as anything. And then continue the evaluation of our roster. It’s going to be a really good opportunity for some of our younger players to get a significant amount of work in the second part of this scrimmage. Everything we do is important and evaluated, but this certainly represents a big ‘Opp’ for a lot of guys.”
McVay didn’t specifically say which players he’ll be keeping an eye on, but we can figure out who will need a strong showing in the scrimmage. Nsimba Webster is fighting to make the team as a return specialist and punt returner, while undrafted rookies Easop Winston, Earnest Edwards and Trishton Jackson will be competing for possibly the same roster spot.
On the offensive line, there’s plenty of fluidity. Will the Rams keep Brian Allen over promising rookie Cohl Cabral? Can Jamil Demby hold off Tremayne Anchrum as one of the final offensive linemen to make the team?
The top three running backs are set with Cam Akers, Malcolm Brown and Darrell Henderson, but if the Rams keep four, will it be Xavier Jones or John Kelly? Both players figure to see a lot of playing time in the scrimmage with Henderson out, and this might be Jones’ best chance yet to make an impression.
The lack of a preseason has really hurt the younger players fighting to make the team, but McVay won’t use that as an excuse for the roster being more difficult to set.
“I just think you wish you could provide more opportunities that a natural and normal schedule allows. You know, preseason games. It won’t be an excuse,” he said. “I think, like we said, we’re evaluating everything and that’s part of our job to make sure that we do a thorough job of getting these guys evaluated the right way, identifying our top players that are going to be on the active roster, who we deem as appropriate practice squad players and then hopefully help those guys that it doesn’t work out for them here, find some other opportunities based on the environment they’re in here.”
The Rams ran more than 140 plays in their scrimmage last week, but McVay doesn’t anticipate the snap count being that high this time around. He estimates that the starters will get 45-50 plays in, with the other half going to the backups and younger players. In total, he expects to run about 90-100 plays.
With just one more week of practices before final cuts on Sept. 5, this could be the last chance to shine for a lot of players.
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