St. Louis Rams Swap Offensive Tackles on Practice Squad

The St. Louis Rams made yet another adjustment to their 10-man practice squad on Friday, releasing tackle Sean Hooey and replacing him with another tackle, Mike Remmers.

In what is somewhat of an unprecedented move for the Jeff Fisher/Les Snead administration, the Rams released Hooey, a player who had been in the system for the past 15 months, in favor of Remmers, an outside acquisition. The 6-foot-9, 315-pound Hooey showed promise as a developmental right tackle, but he had significant struggles when pressed into duty on the left side during the preseason, and he had his fair share of technical issues playing on the right side as well. With his size, Hooey obviously possessed some untapped potential, but apparently the Rams have decided for the moment that it’s better to have a more advanced player in Remmers.

Remmers, a 6-foot-5, 303-pounder, was undrafted out of Oregon State in 2012. Over the past three years, he’s spent time with the Denver Broncos, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Diego Chargers and Minnesota Vikings. He saw some game action with the Chargers in 2013 before being released later on in the season and claimed on waivers by the Vikings. Remmers had been on the Vikings’ practice squad earlier this week before being released.

While there are no real secrets in the NFL, it’s tough to overlook the fact that the Rams are playing the Vikings on Sunday. It would seem out of character for Fisher to make a move like this purely to gain a competitive advantage, and it’s no secret that the Rams were looking to upgrade their offensive line depth. Still, it should be interesting to see if Remmers lasts long term or is shuffled out soon.

This is the second practice squad adjustment that the team has made this week, as they swapped safety Matt Daniels for tight end Brad Smelley on Wednesday.