2015 Rams Roster Preview: C David Wang

As the 140th overall selection in the 2010 NFL Draft, Ed Wang made NFL history as the first Chinese-American to play in the NFL. A standout tackle prospect from Virginia Tech hailing from the Washington, D.C., area, Ed Wang would bounce around the NFL over a four-year span from Buffalo to Oakland to Philadelphia.

Five years after Ed Wang was drafted, his younger brother has now followed in his footsteps to the NFL. David Wang, himself coming out of Virginia Tech albeit on the inside of the offensive line, was signed a bit more than a month ago by the Rams to add some depth between the tackles. Can he find a way on to the Rams' roster in 2015 and continue the athletic legacy left by his brother and Olympian parents?

Roster Battle

The Rams' offensive line is one unit that could take much of the preseason to construct, especially beyond the immediate starters.

As it stands right now, my likely starting offensive line consists of (left tackle to right) Greg Robinson, Rodger Saffold, Barrett Jones, Jamon Brown and Rob Havenstein, though those center and right guard spots will be highly contested in camp. As for immediate depth, G/T Brandon Washington, G Garrett Reynolds, C Tim Barnes and 2015 NFL Draft 4th round pick OT Andrew Donnal are the leads for me. That makes nine, and the Rams went with nine offensive linemen on the 53-man to start the 2014 season.

In any case beyond that top nine, the remaining battle is between (alphabetical) OT Steven Baker, G Travis Bond, C Demetrius Rhaney, Wang, OT Darrell Williams and G Cody Wichmann.

Expectations

If you're sensing a theme among these early entries in this series, good. There's a reason why we're doing the back end of the roster first.

The key for Wang is to get off to a good start. As a late signing with so many names in front of him at both center and guard, having played both positions at Virginia Tech, Wang has no extra time earned.

Chances of Making Final Roster (2/10)

It's just too much clutter in front of Wang for me. The Rams have a ton of youth, so I'll give him a 2 as an outlier. Still, much of that youth carried investment beyond what the Rams put into Wang. And if we're pegging him as a center primarily, Barnes has the experience while Jones has, arguably, the best skill set for the position at the roster. Carrying three centers is already going to be a stretch.

If nothing else, he should come to camp fully motivated and make the first couple days of offensive line work interesting.