Rams projected 53-man roster, depth chart and practice squad for 2020

Sometimes you could get curious as to what the Los Angeles Rams will look like for the 2020 season, and understandably so. As always, I’ll caution that accurate “predictions” are not possible. “Projections” sounds like another word for predictions without taking the fall for being wrong.

My only prediction as to the accuracy of my 53-man roster, depth chart and practice squad is that I 100-percent assure you that I will be wrong.

However, that doesn’t make it any less worth imagining a potential future. If the 53-man roster and depth chart looked like this, how would that make you feel? What differences would you make and why? Knowing what makes you comfortable and what makes you uneasy is a good start towards evaluating your feelings on the 2020 Rams overall.

Here’s a roster that does include 53 players who are currently on the team and could remain so for when they host the Dallas Cowboys on September 13th. The order can be presumed to act as a depth chart.

53-man roster

QB - Jared Goff, John Wolford

RB - Cam Akers, Darrell Henderson, Malcolm Brown, John Kelly

WR - Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Josh Reynolds, Van Jefferson, Nsimba Webster

TE - Tyler Higbee, Gerald Everett, Johnny Mundt, Brycen Hopkins

OT - Andrew Whitworth, Rob Havenstein, Bobby Evans

OG - Joe Noteboom, Austin Corbett, David Edwards, Tremayne Anchrum

C - Austin Blythe, Brian Allen, Coleman Shelton

Offense: 25

DL - Aaron Donald, Michael Brockers, A’Shawn Robinson*, Greg Gaines, Sebastian Joseph-Day, Morgan Fox

LB - Leonard Floyd, Micah Kiser, Samson Ebukam, Travin Howard, Terrell Lewis, Kenny Young, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, Christian Rozeboom

CB - Jalen Ramsey, Troy Hill, Darious Williams, Terrell Burgess, David Long, Adonis Alexander

S - John Johnson, Taylor Rapp*, Jordan Fuller, Nick Scott, Tyrique McGhee

Defense: 25

K - Lirim Hajrullahu

P - Johnny Hekker

LS - Jake McQuaide

Special Teams: 3

Total: 53

*If Robinson remained inactive and the Rams had an additional roster spot, they could potentially keep LB Clay Johnston here

*If Rapp remained inactive and the Rams had an additional roster spot, which seems less likely, they could keep Johnston, but if they had two roster spots, perhaps another offensive lineman like Jamil Demby, yes Jamil Demby, ok?

I have John Kelly making the team this time based on Henderson’s injury setback, just in case the team needs more running back depth. If Henderson were inactive and the team had an additional roster spot, they could keep Kelly (if they aren’t planning to) or Xavier Jones or sign a player in free agency if they wanted a running back. There’s plenty of experience in free agency and someone like Devonta Freeman may not be looking for money that would eat into LA’s salary cap if he has no other options.

I might as well be throwing bacon in a frying pan with fried eggs in my eyes with the choices for offensive line depth. I think it could be a good year to keep three centers and I chose Allen only because of having some experience and doing whatever it was that gave coach’s confidence in him initially.

McGhee and Rozeboom are my “sure why not let’s go for it” undrafted free agent choices because maybe no matter how many times he plays his nuts off, Clay Johnston starts the year on the practice squad.

Speaking of which, the NFL expanded practice squad rosters from 12 to 16 and gave teams up to six spots for players who have played any number of seasons before. There used to be a strict limit on the number of players who had even one or two accrued seasons, but now an NFL team can stash six veterans on the practice squad if they wanted to.

That’s what makes projecting a practice squad even more difficult because we can safely assume that teams will be making a lot of transactions with outside options and potentially churning those names over constantly. But I’ll give you 16 names of players currently on the Rams who could be kept around on the practice squad.

Practice Squad: 16 players

QB Bryce Perkins, RB Xavier Jones, TE Kendall Blanton, OL Jamil Demby, C Cohl Cabral, WR Trishton Jackson, WR Easop Winston, WR Earnest Edwards, DL Jonah Williams, DL Marquise Copeland, LB Jachai Polite, S Juju Hughes, LB Clay Johnston, K Sam Sloman, CB Donte Deayon, LB Natrez Patrick