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The St. Louis Rams did some roster tinkering on Wednesday, welcoming back an injured starter and adding a very familiar name to the practice squad.
Rookie safety Matt Daniels landed on injured reserve this week. To replace him on the active roster, the Rams promoted defensive back Quinton Pointer from the practice squad. Pointer is an undrafted rookie free agent that had a solid preseason for the Rams. He came to the Rams via UNLV where he did double duty as a cornerback and safety.
To replace Pointer on the practice squad, the Rams signed wide receiver Saalim Hakim, the younger brother of former Rams receiver Az-Zahir Hakim, from the GSOT days.
Hakim is 5-foot-11, 188 pounds, from Palomar College in California. He was recently a member of the Dallas Cowboys, after spending the year before with the Las Vegas Locomotives in the UFL. He was a special teams standout in the UFL, using his speed and instinct to move down the field and create turnovers. The connections don't stop there.
Jim Fassel is the head coach and GM for the Locomotives. His son, John Fassel, happens to coach special teams with the Rams. Hakim reportedly runs a 4.31 forty, and did some work returning kicks in camp with the Cowboys. According to the estimable Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News, the Rams tried to lure Hakim to join the team this spring, but the Cowboys did a better job with Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett making a personal pitch.
The last receiver signed away from the Dallas practice squad turned out to be a pretty good one for the Rams; Danny Amendola.
Last and certainly not least, the Rams activated center Scott Wells from the designated to return IR list. He practiced with the team, in a limited role, on Wednesday afternoon. The Rams have two weeks to promote Wells to the 53-man roster, or move him back to IR for the rest of the year.
Wells might not be ready this week for the Niners game. Fisher said earlier in the week that Wells was a little further behind Danny Amendola and Rodger Saffold, both expected to return this week. With Robert Turner playing a solid game in Wells' place, the Rams can take their time with the veteran.