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| St. Louis Rams |
- OT Braden Brown has officially gone onto injured reserve. He never made it onto the practice field due to back problems.
- G Kevin Saia is now joining Brown on the IR. Foot injury.
- WR Andrew Helmick injured a hamstring Monday and is expected to be out "a few weeks". Naturally. I just got going on his RFA profile. This is a real bummer, Helmick's shown enough in camp at WR that I was hoping to see him get some reps returning kicks. Could have given him a good run at making the final roster. Pretty solid chance for him still to make the practice squad, though.
The IR moves briefly had the Rams' roster count at 87, but they have signed a couple of new players to get back up to 89:
- WR Justin Veltung, cut yesterday by the Seahawks. He's the University of Idaho's (uh-oh, Linehan country) all-time kickoff return leader - 78 returns for 1,743 yards. That sounds great before you get the calculator out and see that it's only 22.3 yards a return. Veltung may be able to jump higher than that.
- OL Graham Pocic, a rookie free agent from Illinois. He's a 6'7", 310-lb center/right tackle. (How bad were the Illini last year? The center was the team's Outstanding Offensive Player.) I'll add him to the queue of RFA profiles I'll never get caught up on.
On the good news side, 4th-round pick Barrett Jones has taken the field for the first time. Veterans Lance Kendrick (knee) and Jermelle Cudjo (back) remain sidelined. Jeff Fisher indicates Matt Daniels (knee) is close to returning. RFA TE Philip Lutzenkirchen began practicing with the team on Saturday. With apologies, I've lost track of Sammy Brown, who had been out due to a calf injury.
Btw, it's not just RamView worrying about the offensive line's performance so far. Nick Wagoner at stlouisrams.com and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer have also noticed (with apologies for the cut and paste):
OC Brian Schottenheimer talked to the media for a bit after practice, which we’ll have more on tomorrow, but one thing he pointed out that has been obvious in the first days of practice is just how difficult the Rams’ defensive line is making life for the offense. The defensive line has regularly created pressure on QB Sam Bradford and it’s made it hard for the offense to get in rhythm at times. Schottenheimer believes that can only help make the offense better as camp moves along.
Wagoner reported that Schottenheimer has seen improvement in Rodger Saffold's play, which has also been an early concern here. Check camp reports from the first weekend at ramview.com. I'll report again from the Dome on Saturday as long as my car is willing. Is smoke billowing from my air conditioner vents a bad thing?
The Rams were off Tuesday and return to practice 3:30 Wednesday and 5:30 Thursday. The team will be in pads both practices.
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