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Even for some die-hard Rams fans, seeing the name Matthew Daniels, evokes a quickly sputtered, who?
In his two seasons with the Rams, Daniels has played in a total of six games and has .5 of a tackle to his credit. However, lack of production can hardly be chalked up to failings on Daniels part. Actually, his teammates were to blame. In 2012, Daniels suffered a torn MCL/ACL in the game against the Patriots, when Austin Pettis rolled into him. Season over. After busting his hump to get back into shape, lightning struck again in 2013 when Benny Cunningham rolled into him during the Falcons game, fracturing his ankle. Season over.
It is safe to say that we really haven't seen just what Matthew Daniels is capable of as a player. An undrafted free agent out of Duke, he obviously has something going for him to make the roster two years in a row. His limited playing time has almost exclusively been on special teams.
Expectations for Daniels this season?
Expectations have to be low. Regardless of how his injuries happened, he is now labelled with the 'injury prone' title. Further, in the time that he has been on the field, he has not shown a lot of ability. Perhaps it is just bad luck, perhaps not. It is certainly a chore to rack up any stats on special teams. The kicker/punter and the return men are the only ones to really do so and as a safety, we really have nothing to go on.
Will he make the Rams roster in 2014?
The odds are slim. While Darian Stewart and Matt Giordano have been let go, Maurice Alexander, Christian Bryant, Avery Cunningham have been added to the existing corps of T.J. McDonald, Rodney McLeod and Cody Davis. In short, more and tougher competition to make that final 53 man roster.