The 2017 Rams Roster Preview Series

It’s time.

Just like last year’s edition, today we begin looking at every single member of the Los Angeles Rams as we head toward training camp, the 2017 preseason, and ultimately the 2017 regular season.

You can bookmark this StoryStream to make sure you don't miss an installment.

Like last year, we’ll work our way up from the back end of the roster up to the key starters. And in each installment, we’ll look at the player’s outlook in three key areas:

Roster Battle

What is the position situation for this player? How can they distinguish themselves from their peers? Certain positions, chiefly quarterback and the special teams slots, don’t really have much of a roster battle. Others, certainly, do, especially at the back of the roster. Whether they’re rookie UDFAs or fringe candidates trying to make the transition from the Jeff Fisher era to Sean McVay’s tenure, they don’t have much more time to stand out from the pack. We’ll look at each player’s situation regarding that here.

Expectations

If the roster battle section takes more weight for the back half of the 90-man roster, this section is the opposite. The players who miss out on the 53-man, obviously, won’t be expected to contribute anything in 2017. Those who barely make it will have limited impact barring catastrophic injury situations to the depth chart ahead of them. For the top of the roster, it’s everything. Underperforming expectations can cost you your job. Meeting them can earn you a new contract. Exceeding them will put you in the driver’s seat of your NFL career.

Chances of Making 53-Man Roster

This one’s probably the most fun. Each author will gauge the player’s chances of making the roster for Week 1 based on...well, whatever the hell that author wants. Last year, Sean’s chances for RB Todd Gurley to make the roster? ∞. Derrik gave OL Pace Murphy a 1/10 shot; Murphy made the 53-man roster cut. There’s no standardized scale for how we determine the player’s chances because standardized scales are for suckas (seriously though, they’re very important and you should adhere to accepted norms for societal balance and production).

So hang tight. We’ll get to DT Aaron Donald and QB Jared Goff in a bit. We’ve got a whole 90-man roster to get through that will likely change as we go. But it’ll get us to camp and to football and for that, I’m grateful.

Roster previews are a go.