LA Rams Sign 8 Players To Reserve/Futures Contracts

The Los Angeles Rams signed eight players to Reserve/Futures contracts last week to lock up the players from the practice squad they valued most:

• S Jerome Couplin (William & Mary)
• LB Cassanova McKinzy (Auburn)
• LB Reggie Northrup (Florida State)
• CB Kevin Peterson (Oklahoma State)
• WR Brandon Shippen (Temple)
• CB Kevin Short (Fort Scott CC)
• RB Brandon Wegher (Morningside)
• TE Bryce Williams (East Carolina)

The two players from the practice squad the Rams didn’t sign were OT Isaiah Battle and DE Lenny Jones. The Rams selected Battle in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Supplemental Draft sacrificing their fifth-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft to do so. He failed to log a single snap since.

Reserve/Future contracts are available for teams to offer to any players not signed to an active roster at the conclusion of the regular season. Futures contracts are minimum-salary deals with little or no signing bonus, so the only players willing to accept them are the practice squad, fringe roster types. While teams are required to hold a 53-man active roster with a 10-man practice squad in season, the offseason allows them to work down to that from a 90-man roster. This year, the 90-man cap will go into effect on March 9. The 53-man deadline is yet to be announced, but generally follows the conclusion of the preseason schedules of all 32 teams.

Last year, the Rams signed six players to Reserve/Future contracts: G David Arkin, TE Justice Cunningham, LB Zach Hodges, FB Zach Laskey, WR Deon Long and LB/S Matthew Wells.