St. Louis Rams: 5 Darkhorse Candidates to Make the 53-Man Roster
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Cunningham is probably competing with second-year player Alex Bayer for a fourth tight end spot on this year’s roster, despite both players occupying spots on the Rams’ 53 for the latter part of the 2014 season. While many will assume that Bayer has the edge due to the fact that he lasted the entire season on the roster and played in some games, while Cunningham spent time on the practice squad and was inactive for every game that he was on the roster, Cunningham may actually be the more valuable player. He’s considered to be the better blocker of the two players—a skill the Rams could use more of without a true fullback and with two tight ends in Jared Cook and Lance Kendricks that are inconsistent blockers at times—and he’s also a more skilled special-teamer. That may be irrelevant if the Rams only plan on dressing three tight ends on gamedays, as they did for much of 2014, but it’s still good to have quality special teams players waiting in reserve. Bayer, who showed himself to be a skilled receiver last preseason, probably isn’t going to get many targets unless there’s an injury, so a guy like Cunningham who does the gritty things well may be the better fit.
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