The Los Angeles Rams have had a solid first week of training camp, making it through four practices without a significant injury occurring. There’s still plenty of work for players and coaches to do in the coming weeks before they leave UC Irvine and return back home to Thousand Oaks, but it’s been a good start for this young team.
With so many camp battles to follow and so much uncertainty on this roster, we’ve picked one takeaway from each position group after the first week of practice.
Quarterback: Stetson making steady progress
The Rams drafted Bennett to back up Matthew Stafford this season and while it’s still early in training camp, the rookie seems on track to do just that. Bennett has had a great first week of camp, building a strong connection with Demarcus Robinson, in particular.
Bennett appears to be ahead of Brett Rypien in the quarterback battle, which is encouraging for the fourth-round rookie. Sean McVay complimented the progress Bennett has made, resulting in his best practice of the week coming on Saturday.
Running back: Michel out, Freeman in
It’s hard to truly gauge the play of a running back in training camp when guys aren’t hitting so we don’t exactly know how Cam Akers and Kyren Williams are doing right now. But the Rams were given some surprising news when Sony Michel told McVay that he planned to retire from football.
With Michel gone, the Rams signed Royce Freeman, another back with some power when running between the tackles.
“He’s a guy that’s played, done some things similar to what we might’ve asked of Sony. And that was really what went into it. And he’s a guy that some people had some familiarity with,” McVay said.
Wide receiver: Robinson making a statement
Demarcus Robinson was somewhat of an afterthought when the Rams signed him this summer, but he’s been one of the more impressive players in camp thus far. He’s making a name for himself and pushing to potentially be the team’s No. 3 receiver.
It seems every day in practice that Robinson is making a big play or scoring a touchdown, whether it’s Stafford throwing him the ball or Bennett and Rypien. It’s hard to imagine Robinson being cut by the Rams after the camp he’s had.
Tight end: Injuries thinning out the group
Hunter Long began training camp on the PUP list and has yet to be activated. Rookie Davis Allen is now dealing with a hamstring injury, which has caused the tight end group to get a little bit thinner. The Rams still haven’t made a roster move to add to the position, which is a sign that Long and Allen will be back sooner rather than later, but Tyler Higbee and Brycen Hopkins could use some depth behind them.
Offensive line: No frontrunners at C or LT yet
We’ve heard plenty about how Brian Allen and Coleman Shelton are competing at center and Alaric Jackson and Joe Noteboom battling at left tackle, but we still don’t know who the frontrunners at each position are. Perhaps no one has pulled ahead in either battle, which means the next few weeks of practice and potentially the preseason will decide those competitions.
Defensive line: Starting spots still up for grabs
There hasn’t been a lot of chatter about the Rams’ defensive line, aside from the fact that Aaron Donald is getting double- and triple-teamed … in practice. That’s right, the Rams are sliding protection his way on almost every snap, trying to give him a more realistic view of what teams will do to him this season.
Outside of Donald, there has been no indication of which two players will start next to him on the D-line. Donald likes what he’s seen from Kobie Turner, which is encouraging, but Bobby Brown III and Marquise Copeland are lacking recognition so far.
Edge rusher: Hoecht still leading the position
Michael Hoecht is expected to be the Rams’ top edge rusher this year, replacing Leonard Floyd on the edge. Byron Young, Daniel Hardy, Nick Hampton and others will compete for snaps, too, but as of now, it seems like Hoecht is still in the driver’s seat at outside linebacker.
McVay did say he likes the variety of skill sets the Rams have at edge rusher – like a “pitcher changing up his pitches.”
Inside linebacker: No major movement behind Jones
It’ll take a real breakout performance from an inside linebacker to disrupt the top two of Ernest Jones and Christian Rozeboom. The Rams have Jake Hummel and a host of other undrafted rookies at this position behind the two projected starters, but there hasn’t been a lot of noise about this group in camp so far.
Cornerback: Witherspoon's stock trending up
Ahkello Witherspoon unfortuntely suffered a thumb injury in training camp, which required surgery. But thankfully, he was able to put a cast on his hand and continue practicing, which allows him to keep competing for reps at cornerback.
Witherspoon has made a good impression on his coaches in camp and is making a case to be the Rams’ No. 2 cornerback next to Cobie Durant. Derion Kendrick is injured and Robert Rochell hasn’t stood out in practice, which gives Witherspoon a clear path to playing time in the secondary.
Safety: Lake and Yeast still the favorites to start next to Fuller
Russ Yeast and Quentin Lake have been getting snaps with the first-team defense alongside Jordan Fuller, but undrafted rookies Tanner Ingle and Rashad Torrence are doing what they can to stand out, too. Torrence had a pick in practice last week and Ingle broke up a throw by Stafford, which were two positive plays made by the rookie safeties.
