Rams Roster Moves: 5 Cut Ahead of NFL Deadline
NFL teams have until Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET until their 90-man roster must be cut down to 85 players.
On Monday, ahead of the cutdown deadline, the Los Angeles Rams have announced that they've waived kicker Austin MacGinnis, linebacker Derrick Moncrief, offensive tackle Ryan Pope, defensive end Maximilian Roberts and defensive tackle George Silvanic.
The Rams just played their first preseason game, an outing in which they sidelined 38 players who sat and watched the outing against the Chargers. The first cutdown deadline shouldn't play into head coach Sean McVay's preseason game-planning much, but as other cutdown deadlines approach, he may be forced to alter things just a bit and have more players dress out on game days.
The coach has made it clear that he will never' expose valued QB Matthew Stafford to the risks of playing in these relatively "meaningless'' games, and logic dictates the coach could use the same level of conservatism with a number of other key members of the Rams roster going forward.
“There is zero chance you will ever see Matthew Stafford take a snap in the preseason for the Rams as long as I’m the coach," McVay said recently. "That will never happen. He is not going to play. That’s why it’s important for us to try to get competitive ‘opps’ against some of these other teams in practice settings."
Following Tuesday's first cutdown of 85 players, it will then be followed up by an 80-player deadline on Aug. 24 and 53 players by Aug. 31.
Continue Reading: Rams' Justin Lawler Makes The Most of His Opportunities
Nick Cothrel is the Publisher of Ram Digest. Follow Nick on Twitter @NickCothrel.
