St. Louis Rams Release 17 Players; Five More Cuts to Go

Update, 8:11 PM CT: Three additional players who the Rams released today have been revealed, as the Post-Dispatch’s Jim Thomas reports that offensive guard Travis Bond, wide receivers Emory Blake and Austin Franklin, and cornerback Darren Woodard got the ax.

According to Michael Silver of NFL Media, the St. Louis Rams released 17 players on Friday afternoon, meaning that they have five cuts to meet the 53-man limit they must be down to by Saturday. Silver revealed that rookie defensive end Michael Sam was not one of the players released. That means there are eight players still yet to be identified who were victims of the turk on Friday.

As we previously reported, linebacker Phillip Steward, offensive lineman Sean Hooey and Mitchell Van Dyk, safety Avery Cunningham, and tight end Brad Smelley were released. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Jim Thomas tweeted later on Friday that rookie quarterback Garrett Gilbert and linebacker Etienne Sabino were released, and CBS Sports confirmed the release of backup defensive linemen Kourtnei Brown and Deantre Harlan.

Gilbert and Van Dyk, both seventh-rounders in this year’s draft, are just the second and third draft picks to be released as rookies by Jeff Fisher in St. Louis, following linebacker Aaron Brown, a seventh-rounder in 2012. It’s only the third time since 2008 that the Rams have released multiple draft picks as rookies.

At risk of suggestive journalism, several Rams on the bubble have posted some potentially cryptic Tweets over the past couple hours, so take any of them as you wish.

If they aren’t leaked by agents or Twitter posts, we’ll likely find out the identities of the other released players tomorrow afternoon. General manager Les Snead mentioned on Thursday that the timing of the waiver wire (3PM central time daily) would play a role in when the team would officially announce the cuts.