St. Louis Rams Release LB Ray Ray Armstrong
The decision makers at Rams Park made a major statement about the recent lack of discipline the St. Louis Rams have had, releasing linebacker Ray Ray Armstrong on Monday afternoon.
Armstrong, who has combined with fellow second-year linebacker Daren Bates over the past year to be one of the leaders of the Rams’ special teams units, took a fatally costly unnecessary roughness penalty on a punt in the first quarter of yesterday’s game. Despite the fact that Armstrong made such an impact by tallying 12 special teams tackles in 2013, he was also a liability, particularly early in his rookie season, due to his lack of discipline.
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While Armstrong flashed the same strong special teams skills this season, he failed to take advantage of an opportunity to pass up Jo-Lonn Dunbar for a starting outside linebacker spot during camp. And when a player like Armstrong ends up not playing at all from scrimmage, it makes them more susceptible to getting cut if they can’t effectively perform their limited roles on special teams.
The Rams already were relatively shorthanded at linebacker, only carrying five players at the position, one less than the standard six for a 4-3 defense. With that said, neither Bates or Armstrong had seen any action from scrimmage this season, so it’s not like they were experiencing any depth issues there. Still, they’ll need to replace Armstrong with another linebacker. They could elect to find a veteran from outside the organization, or they could elect to promote Denicos Allen from the practice squad, an undrafted rookie who is said to have strong special teams skills.