Tag: Robert Rochell

Rams release Logan Bruss, Robert Rochell and Tyler Johnson

The Rams have released 2022 third-rounder Logan Bruss, 2021 fourth-rounder Robert Rochell and veteran Tyler Johnson

The Rams were sitting at 56 players for hours before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline, needing to cut three more to get the roster to 53. In the final wave of cuts, the Rams had two big surprises.

In addition to Tyler Johnson, they released 2022 third-rounder Logan Bruss and 2021 fourth-rounder Robert Rochell. The roster is now down to 53 players and it doesn’t include a kicker.

Bruss is a massive surprise because he was just a third-round pick last year and the Rams’ top selection in the draft. He missed his entire rookie season with a torn ACL, but he’s now healthy and available. He just hasn’t impressed thus far, even moving from guard to tackle in an attempt to give him some added comfort.

Rochell was a raw prospect coming out of Central Arkansas but the cornerback hasn’t developed in his two-plus years as a pro. He has the athleticism to be an NFL cornerback but his coverage skills are lacking, as is his tackling ability.

6 Rams to watch in preseason Week 1 vs. Chargers

Here are 6 players from the Rams to watch in Saturday’s preseason opener vs. the Chargers.

The Los Angeles Rams are slated to begin their 2023 preseason schedule with a matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday. This marks the third straight year the Rams will square off against their neighbors in the preseason.

Sean McVay iterated that the Rams are going to take a “very different approach” to the preseason this year with the number of rookies and inexperienced players on the roster. Even with McVay altering his mindset entering the preseason, we shouldn’t expect to see the likes of Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, Rob Havenstein, Tyler Higbee, and Aaron Donald receive snaps until Week 1 against the Seattle Seahawks.

Ahead of Saturday’s exhibition contest versus the Chargers, here are six players on the Rams to keep an eye on.

Rams CB Robert Rochell suffered ankle injury in practice

Robert Rochell left practice early on Saturday with an ankle injury but it’s unclear how severe it is

Robert Rochell is competing for a role at cornerback this season as he enters his third year in the NFL but his stock may have just taken a hit on Saturday.

Sean McVay said after practice that Rochell was unable to finish the session because his ankle was bothering him, causing him to leave the field early. Head trainer Reggie Scott let McVay know of Rochell’s injury but he didn’t get into the severity of it.

“Reggie (Scott) came to me, he said his ankle was bothering him a little bit, so he ended up not being able to finish up. I think his ankle was bothering him is what Reggie had communicated to me,” McVay said.

The Rams are scheduled to practice again on Sunday, so that will give us a better indication of Rochell’s status. He’s already seemed to fall behind Ahkello Witherspoon on the depth chart, so he needs every opportunity he can get.

With Derion Kendrick also injured, the Rams could be missing a couple of contributors in the secondary on Sunday.

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Robert Rochell could be on hot seat after Ahkello Witherspoon signing

With Ahkello Witherspoon coming aboard, Robert Rochell’s path to a starting job just got tougher

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It’s easy to understand why the Rams are bringing in Ahkello Witherspoon. They didn’t have a single cornerback with more than two years of NFL experience on their roster, so his veteran presence and six years of work as a pro give Los Angeles a bit of a safety net in a very young cornerback group.

He shouldn’t affect Cobie Durant’s standing as the presumed No. 1 cornerback on the team, particularly considering he doesn’t play in the slot like Durant. But he very well could impact Robert Rochell’s future in Los Angeles.

Like Rochell, Witherspoon is 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds and almost exclusively plays on the outside instead of the slot. According to PFF, Rochell played 214 snaps as a wide corner in 2021 and only two in the slot. That same year, Witherspoon played 339 snaps out wide and only five in the slot.

Durant will presumably be the Rams’ primary slot corner, which means they need two outside corners when they’re in nickel packages. Derion Kendrick should be one of them, but the other is very much up for grabs. Rochell was viewed as the front-runner because of his size and athletic profile, but that’s now in question because of the Witherspoon signing.

It’s probably no coincidence that the Rams signed a bigger cornerback with the same measurables as Rochell. They didn’t go out and sign a smaller corner who can play the slot. They wanted an outside presence to work alongside Durant and Kendrick.

Rochell is on the hot seat as a result of this move, a sign of the team’s lack of confidence in him as a starter. That was evident last season when Rochell rode the bench through all of the Rams’ cornerback injuries. He played just 26 defensive snaps despite being healthy enough to play all 17 games.

Rochell came into the NFL as a raw prospect from small-school Central Arkansas but his athleticism and high ceiling got him drafted in the fourth round. He hasn’t panned out up to this point, making just five starts in two seasons, so the Rams wanted a player with a similar skill set – just with more experience and a higher floor.

It’s not out of the question for the Rams to cut Rochell this offseason, though given their cornerback questions, they should probably keep him around, especially since he’s only entering his third season. But now with Witherspoon, the Rams have a solid corner who has played 60 games and started 40 of them.

The battle between Witherspoon and Rochell will certainly be one to watch during training camp and throughout the preseason because the loser of that competition will be left on the bench.

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Robert Rochell names his Rams 4×100 team and it’s a fast group

Which Rams players would make the best 4×100 team? Robert Rochell picked his group.

Even if the Rams’ roster is looking thinner than usual right now, this team still has some speed to burn. There are some fast players on both sides of the ball, from Tutu Atwell to Cobie Durant.

Pro Football Focus posed the question of which team could put together the fastest 4×100 team and Robert Rochell chimed in with his picks for the Rams.

He went with himself, Van Jefferson, Atwell and Durant, feeling confident in that group against the rest of the NFL. It’s a pretty fast team, too.

Jefferson hit 21.5 mph at the Senior Bowl when he was coming out of Florida, while Atwell ran a 4.32 at his pro day. Rochell ran a 4.39, which is impressive at his size, and Durant had the 11th-fastest speed of any ball carrier last season (21.5 mph), according to Next Gen Stats.

With Jalen Ramsey gone, this would be the fastest group for the Rams in a 4×100 event, and it would put up a good fight against any other team in the NFL.

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It’s time for the Rams to see what they have in their younger players

The Rams’ season is quickly slipping away and it’s time for the younger players to get more snaps

Very little is working for the Los Angeles Rams right now. The offense is one of the worst in the NFL and the defense, as star-studded as it is, has struggled to overcome the tough spots the offense is putting it in.

It’s translated to a 3-6 record and a spot in last place in the NFC West. Cooper Kupp is out, Matthew Stafford is dealing with a concussion, the running game is terrible and the secondary has been inconsistent outside of Jalen Ramsey and Troy Hill.

The Rams aren’t out of it yet, but the outlook of their season is getting increasingly bleak by the week. With Kupp sidelined, it’s time for the Rams to give their younger players a longer look so they can get a better sense of who might have some potential as future starters.

Let’s make one thing clear: I’m not advocating for the Rams to tank and bench their starters. But there is a way for them to give their younger, less proven players a chance to contribute more than they have. And there are five specific players who should get more playing time in the coming weeks, especially if the Rams can’t beat the Saints on Sunday.

The players I’m looking at are Tutu Atwell, Lance McCutcheon, Kyren Williams, Cobie Durant and Robert Rochell.

Five underrated players to watch in the Rams-Bills season opener

The Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills kick off the 2022 NFL regular season tonight. Here are five under-the-radar players to watch.

We all know the big names in tonight’s 2022 NFL regular-season opener pitting the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams against the Buffalo Bills — the trendy pick to unseat the Rams and take the Lombardi Trophy at the end of Super Bowl LVII.

Aaron Donald. Von Miller. Matthew Stafford. Josh Allen. Stephon Diggs. Jalen Ramsey. On and on. These two teams didn’t get here by accident — they each have among the league’s most talent-rich rosters.

But hidden in those rosters are players you may not know (or may not know enough about), and that’s where we come in with five players you’ll want to keep an eye on when this game kicks off at 8:20 p.m. EST.

Sean McVay explains why he’s viewing Robert Rochell as a rookie this year

Robert Rochell missed time with multiple injuries last year, which has Sean McVay viewing him as a rookie in 2022

When Robert Rochell was drafted by the Rams in the fourth round last year, he was viewed as a fairly raw prospect who might need some time to develop before becoming a starter. It didn’t take long for him to crack the starting lineup, however, making his first start in Week 5 against the Seahawks.

Rochell made five total starts and appeared in 11 games, though he likely would’ve played even more had it not been for a wrist and rib injury – the latter of which landed him on injured reserve in December.

Sean McVay doesn’t think people realize how much Rochell battled through in 2021, which is why he’s viewing the young cornerback as a rookie this year.

“I look at Robert Rochell in a lot of instances as a rookie because he did some really good things, but I don’t think anybody understands all of the things he was pushing through – whether it’s the wrist injury, he ended up having the lung/rib type of deal,” McVay said this week at OTAs. “He’s a guy that made a great play in 7-on-7 today. You can see the communication in that meeting room with Chris Shula, Jonathan Cooley and Raheem and Lance Schulters has been excellent. Being able to identify some of those younger guys, they fit the mold and looking forward to seeing those guys continue to evolve for us on the back end.”

McVay mentioned Taylor Rapp, Jordan Fuller and Nick Scott as leaders at the safety position, but the Rams also have younger defensive backs who are expected to step up this season, including Rochell.

That group includes rookies Decobie Durant and Derion Kendrick, as well as first-year safeties Russ Yeast and Quentin Lake. Rochell will undoubtedly be ahead of Durant and Kendrick when training camp opens in July, but he’ll need to beat out David Long Jr. for the third cornerback spot behind Jalen Ramsey and Troy Hill.

McVay seems to think highly of the second-year corner, and he could be in for a big 2022 campaign now that he’s fully healthy.

Instant analysis of Rams trading for Troy Hill

The Rams traded for Troy Hill during the 2022 NFL draft, reuniting him with Jalen Ramsey. What does that mean for the other CBs in LA?

The Los Angeles Rams double-dipped at cornerback during the fourth round of the 2022 NFL draft, but one of the two cornerbacks they added was via trade. Amid the selection of Decobie Durant with the 142nd overall pick, the Rams acquired Troy Hill from the Cleveland Browns, reuniting him with Jalen Ramsey.

Hill is familiar with the Rams, having spent five seasons with the organization from 2016 to 2020. In his final three seasons in Los Angeles, Hill totaled 23 pass breakups and seven interceptions before signing with the Browns in 2021.

But with Hill rejoining the Rams, what does that mean for the other cornerbacks like Robert Rochell, David Long Jr., and newly-drafted Durant? Los Angeles likely wanted to bring in a familiar face after losing Darious Williams in free agency.

Taking that into account, Hill will likely start on the opposite side of Ramsey while Rochell and Long will compete for the No. 3 spot on the depth chart. The Rams prefer their cornerbacks to flash the ability to move inside or outside, so whoever can show those skills in training camp could prevail.

The trade for Hill shows that the Rams weren’t overly confident in either Rochell or Long to step into an expanded role in 2022. Both saw playing time last season, though, both of them saw other members of the secondary steal snaps from them in the latter portion of the season.

Meanwhile, Durant and the other cornerbacks on the roster could provide depth and contribute on special teams. The decision to reunite with Hill does improve the outlook of the cornerback room entering next season.

5 younger Rams players who could take a leap forward in 2022

Robert Rochell and Brycen Hopkins are two younger players who could have bigger roles with the Rams next season.

When the Los Angeles Rams add rookies in the draft, they don’t typically expect them to contribute in a big way in Year 1. Les Snead and Sean McVay like to draft a year or two in advance, knowing those players will be asked to step up eventually after starters depart in free agency.

For these five players, that time could be now.

The Rams will need players to step up after the team suffered several free-agent losses, creating voids on the roster. These five younger players could take a leap forward in 2022 thanks to potentially bigger roles.