The Los Angeles Rams are gearing up for the playoffs. Yes, there’s the matter of Week 17 and a rivalry game against the San Francisco 49ers, but given the news of the key starters that won’t be playing it’s fair to say the playoffs loom largest even a week out.
As such, the front office made some moves today to shore up the back end of the roster.
As we learned from Head Coach Sean McVay yesterday, OLB Matt Longacre is being put on injured reserve. We’ve since learned today he’ll be joined by S Marqui Christian. A fifth-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals in the 2016 NFL Draft, Christian was scooped up last September and stuck around ever since. The position depth was thinned when the Rams released S Maurice Alexander in early October, but the ascension (and continued health) of rookie S John Johnson limited Christian’s defensive snaps.
The Rams also waived OLB Kasim Edebali who they had brought in a week ago.
That leaves three open roster spots, but the Rams only announced two players coming in, both via the practice squad. C Aaron Neary and OLB Garrett Sickels both were selected to come up to the active 53-man roster from the practice squad today. Neary was a 2016 UDFA out of Eastern Washington as a former teammate of Rams rookies WR Cooper Kupp and OLB Samson Ebukam. He joined the Rams in September. Sickels is a rookie UDFA who bounced between the Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns before the Rams grabbed him in October.
No word on the final roster spot, though S Cody Davis is eligible to return from injured reserve and would make an obvious fill-in for Christian.
To fill the spots left by Neary and Sickels on the practice squad, the Rams signed TE Henry Krieger-Coble and CB Taurean Nixon. Krieger-Coble came up as a 2016 UDFA through the Denver Broncos before spending time with the Colts this year while Nixon was a seventh-round selection in the 2015 NFL Draft by Denver who spent time on three other clubs this season prior to the Rams.