The St. Louis Rams released second-year TE Fendi Onobun today, along with a handful of others as they move closer to their final 53-man roster. Keeping a fourth tight end was viewed by many as an option given concerns about Michael Hoomanawanui's injury status. That may still happen. So far, UDFA Ben Guidugli has yet to be released, as far as we know.
Other released since this morning include: RB Keith Toston, DB Jonathan Nelson, RB Chase Reynolds, DT Marlon Favorite, and TE Demarco Cosby.
Onobun will be eligible for the practice squad if he clears waivers, a big "if" in my opinion, but I'm hardly an NFL general manager. He played in just three game last year.
Correction: I said in my a previous post that Mark Clayton did not count against the cap while on the PUP list. He does count against the cap while on the PUP. It has to do with the nature of his contract, and I'll leave my guardhouse lawyering at that. Thanks to Rams' COO Kevin Demoff for the info, who also assured me there was no shame in salary cap/CBA confusion. Hey, as long as the Rams front office has the cap thing down, I'm cool with it.
It was also mentioned that the Rams have not used their cap exemption yet, and are not over the cap with any 53-man configuration as it stood with the 80-man roster. Their strategy was to let the players' work on the field make the first decisions about cuts, and not make cuts because of money.
MORE CUTS: George Selvie was released as well. I'm a little surprised, but with the exceptional play of Eugene Sims this year, it made the defensive end spot one of the toughest for cuts. Probably means they keep C.J. Ah You.
OFFENSIVE LINE QUESTION MARKS: The Rams released Quinn Ojinnaka today. Along with Renardo Foster, two guys who had a good shot at backup jobs are now gone. I wonder if they won't look for a free agent. As of now, Adam Goldberg and Hank Fraley seem to be the top two backup OL. Could Drew Miller be the eighth lineman they keep? Keep an eye on this situation.