Friday, August 29, 2014

Cutdown to 53 (final)

The Rams' final cuts to reach the 53-man roster limit are complete:

WR Emory Blake - as projected. Very likely to go to practice squad.
G Travis Bond - as projected
DE Kourtnei Brown - as projected
CB Christian Bryant - as projected
DT Matt Conrath - as projected
DB Avery Cunningham - as projected
WR Austin Franklin - as projected. Seems like a good pick for the PS.
QB Garrett Gilbert - I assume this means the Rams have a veteran QB lined up? Honestly, if it's just Brady Quinn or something, why not just keep Gilbert? Two more things I think: going with 2 QBs on the main roster will be a bad idea, and Gilbert should make it to the Rams' practice squad.
DT Deantre Harlan - as projected. Rams may need a little luck to get him back to the PS.
LB Aaron Hill - as projected
T Sean Hooey - as projected
CB Greg Reid - unlike my projection, looks like the Rams will keep Austin Pettis. For now. Reid should be on a PS somewhere, hopefully here. He's rallied quite nicely from two lost seasons and some off-field problems.
DE Michael Sam - as ORIGINALLY projected before I fell for all the NFL Network press conference hoopla. Rams are already saying they intend to bring Sam back on the PS.
LB Etienne Sabino - as projected
TE Brad Smelley - as projected
LB Phillip Steward - I had a feeling. The Rams usually carried only 5 LBs last year.
OL Mitchell Van Dyk - as projected. 7th round pick should make practice squad if they want him.
WR Justin Veltung - as projected
OL Brandon Washington - as projected
LB Lawrence Wilson - as projected. I hope he makes it to the PS here. Played quite well.
CB Darren Woodard - I picked the wrong corner. Looks like Marcus Roberson is in as a UDFA. Hey, I gave him a 50% chance when they signed him.

RamView went 16 for 21 on this cut (10 for 14 in the first cutdown). My misses:
* Alex Bayer - He and Justice Cunningham are aboard the final roster for now. I had Bayer on the practice squad.
* Marcus Roberson - From my observing, I had Roberson a very close third to Reid and Woodard. Of course, the coaches get to see a lot more of the DBs than I do.
* Barrett Jones - in my defense, hard to make predictions about Jones with the near-complete lack of information about his physical condition. Maybe he's close.
* Trey Watts - hooray for Watts, though, he completely deserves to be on the roster. Heck, he should be RB3 ahead of Tre Mason.
* Austin Pettis - well, keeping 4 WRs like I did in my projection was probably a bad idea.

It seems obvious there are still moves pending. To the press there, I'd appreciate a question about Jones and a question about why the Rams have FIVE TEs somewhere amidst the two billion questions about Michael Sam. Thanks.

-$-

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