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Los Angeles Rams OL Pace Murphy is the true UDFA Cinderella story.
Last year at this point, we didn’t even know if he was a real person. He overcame the odds and made the initial 2016 53-man roster as a UDFA OL under former Head Coach Jeff Fisher. Murphy came from Northwestern State University (again, a real place) beating out players like Isaiah Battle, a 2015 fifth-round supplemental pick.
Murphy only logged game action in two games and will be facing another uphill battle to make the squad this season.
Roster Battle
The Rams offensive line remains in flux from last year. Even with the Greg Robinson trade and Rob Havenstein moving inside to guard, the Rams have Jamon Brown, Andrew Donnal, Darrell Williams and Andrew Whitworth all playing tackle in addition to UDFA Michael Dunn.
Chances are, Murphy has even slimmer chances this season as the Rams look to start maximizing the mix of guys that have been drafted such as Donnal, Brown and Havenstein.
Expectations
Murphy may fit McVay’s zone scheme better than Jeff Fisher’s “power” scheme (if he had an offensive scheme). However, physically, there is a reason why Murphy didn’t get many draft looks compared to the guys who were drafted.
If the staff feels that Murphy played well in the final two games of last season, there is a chance that he could get a longer look as a player with true game experience.
Chances of Making Roster (3/10)
Murphy was given virtually a less than 1% chance to make the roster last year and overcame those odds. I’m not going to write him off completely as he does have a valuable trait about him that many other players do not: game experience.
With that being said, Pace Murphy is likely another case example of how hard it is to make it and stick in the NFL.