St. Louis Rams Make 12 Moves as Mandatory Cutdown Approaches
With the NFL’s required reduction of the roster from 90 to 75 players approaching on Tuesday, the St. Louis Rams made 12 moves in order to get the roster down to 77 players, meaning that two more cuts will need to be made by tomorrow.
Cornerback E.J. Gaines was officially placed on injured reserve, while the team released offensive linemen David Wang, Steven Baker and Travis Bond, safety Jay Hughes, cornerback Imoan Claiborne, linebacker Korey Toomer, long snapper Tyler Ott, wide receivers Tyler Slavin and Damian Williams, tight end Brad Smelley, and punter/kicker Michael Palardy.
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The biggest surprise among the cuts was Claiborne, who many viewed as a legitimate 53-man roster candidate. Though Claiborne was an undrafted free agent out of Northwestern State, he attended the Senior Bowl and was viewed as a high-upside player, especially after Gaines suffered a season-ending injury, which theoretically opened up a spot for a corner among the final 53.
However, the 5-foot-10, 193-pounder did not help himself by punching Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant during the two teams’ joint practice in Oxnard, California two weeks ago. The lack of self-control cast a bad light on Claiborne and probably ruined and positive momentum that he had built up with his strong play during training camp and the first preseason game. With Claiborne now gone, the fifth corner will likely be someone who has flown under the radar thus far (perhaps an undrafted rookie, either Montell Garner or Trovon Reed?), if the team even keeps five corners to start the year.
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Williams spent several games on the Rams’ active roster during the middle of last season, while Toomer was a key special teams contributor over the second half of 2014. Smelley, Bond, and Baker spent much of the season on the practice squad but did long any time on the active roster. Baker, Toomer, and Smelley were all held back by injuries for much of training camp.
Notable bubble players who remain on the roster following the cutdown to 75 include receiver Daniel Rodriguez, fullback Zach Laskey, linebackers Cameron Lynch and Keshaun Malone, safety Jacob Hagen, and the two rookie corners, Garner and Reed. Those players could be in danger of being released to get to 75, though two other obvious candidates would be defensive tackle Doug Worthington and cornerback Brandon McGee, who have missed out on training camp while injured. Those two could be negotiating injury settlements, which would complicate the process of getting them off the roster and explain why they weren’t cut with all the other players on Monday.