2015 St. Louis Rams Training Camp: August 17 Live Updates

Monday, Aug. 17

I'm sure today will be a day where the only story is the football practice.

The St. Louis Rams are at Dallas Cowboys training camp for a joint practice today with thousands of California-based Rams fans expected to be in attendance...possibly along with Rams Owner Stan Kroenke (fifth paragraph in that Wagoner piece for the Kroenke mention).

Offensive Line

Well, this is going to be interesting. Rodger Saffold took a knock four plays into the Rams' first preseason game which might be the most Saffold thing ever. That might mean his backup, Brandon Washington, is in there with the first team. And while Tim Barnes got the start on Friday, we may get back into the Barnes/Barrett Jones/Demetrius Rhaney rotation.

Injuries

Tough to know where we're at. RB Tre Mason started on Friday, so that may be an indication he's healthy enough to be a full go for practice with the prior issues fully rehabbed. E.J. Gaines is now out for the season, so we'll probably leave him out of this section moving forward. So coming off of the Rams' last practice, we had RB Todd Gurley (knee), DE Chris Long (back), CB Brandon McGee (foot), TE Brad Smelley (hand), LB Korey Toomer (ankle), OG Cody Wichmann (calf) and DT Doug Worthington (?).

The possible additions would be Saffold and LB Daren Bates, though who knows how significant those were/are.

Rookies

Well Friday gave us some fodder. LB Bryce Hager and DT Louis Trinca-Pasat led the team in tackles against the Raiders. CB Imoan Claiborne had a nice interception. WR Bradley Marquez had a nice night. Bigger troubling issue; no touchdowns or no sacks? Either way, there were numerous rookies involved. Either of those big plays would have elevated their names.

The unofficial depth chart for this week didn't have any major changes save for shifting everyone up a spot with the Gaines injury at cornerback. Perhaps the coaches have another change in store on the field as they get a better field for the new Rams?

Defense

Not a dominant performance defensively, but the first half did enough to put the Rams on a course for success going into the regular season. Losing a starter always hurts, but the Rams had strong depth at cornerback. They can still go three-deep comfortably with Janoris Jenkins, Trumaine Johnson and Lamarcus Joyner with Marcus Roberson and Brandon McGee filling in a pinch. The 0 under the sacks column hurt the box score first reaction.

The battle between the Rams' starting defensive linemen and the Cowboys' O-line should be great viewing and set the tone for camp.

Stay tuned, and let us know what you're seeing either at camp or online.