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The Los Angeles Rams have signed former Utah Utes QB Travis Wilson as confirmed by the NFL wire. The transaction lists Wilson as a tight end, a position he never played in college, a transition touted by his representation team:
We could not be happier for @TravisWilson_7 who just signed with the @RamsNFL. His transition to TE was months of hard work & dedication #gp pic.twitter.com/9kaHP98S4T
— Paradigm Sports Mgmt (@ParadigmSM) March 1, 2017
Wilson was a four-year starter at Utah coming out of San Clemente High School, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. Wilson had a tryout with the Cincinnati Bengals as a UDFA QB who passed through the 2016 NFL Draft, but it did not go well (read: one errant pass hit the Bengals’ defensive coordinator in the back of the head).
Wilson was reportedly set to join the North Coast Heat in the National Gridiron League, a nascent football league in Australia. The league was unable to get off the ground in time for the 2016 season and is hoping to kick off their inaugural season in 2017.
I’m having trouble finding much information about Wilson’s time between late June when reports of his decision to play football in Australia and tonight with the news of his signing with the Rams, so I’m unsure when he began the transition to tight end, and with whom let alone any reports of progress.
Somehow though, news of Wilson’s improvement was both able to reach the Rams’ front office and impress them enough to offer him a spot on the roster.
Whether or not his signing is an indication of a perceived deficit at the position will only be confirmed over the next two months when we get into free agency and beyond into the 2017 NFL Draft.
As it stands, we’ve got our first personnel action as we get into March with the deadline to place a player on a franchise or transition tag coming at 4pm ET tomorrow, the legal tampering period opening at 4pm ET on Tuesday, March 7, and the full wave of free agency opening 48 hours later at 4pm ET on Thursday, March 9.
The 2017 NFL Scouting Combine is set to get underway. Free agency is coming. A decision on whether or not to tag CB Trumaine Johnson looms.
Big decisions ahead.
For tonight though, we have a soft kickoff in the signing of Travis Wilson.
Here’s hoping the long odds of his story continues to pay off.