According to this article the Rams still have 18 players on the covid list. [
www.turfshowtimes.com] (And keep in mind that the Rams have to 1pm to activate guys from the covid list for tonight's game.)
But 4 of those guys are practice squad players (Tyler Hall, Justin Lawler, Christian Rozeboom, and Jonah Williams).
And another 2 are on IR (Sebastian Joseph-Day and Johnny Mundt).
Which leaves these 12 guys to worry about:
Joseph Noteboom
Antoine Brooks
Terrell Burgess
Jamil Demby
Jordan Fuller
Jake Gervase
Rob Havenstein
Tyler Higbee
JuJu Hughes
Von Miller
Ogbonnia Okoronkwo
Jared Pinkney
How does that hurt the offense?With Havs and Boom out the Rams are going to have to figure out RT. Allen is back and could reclaim his spot at starting center, and the Rams will have their three other starters (Whit, Corbett, and Edwards). The Rams will pick a RT from this group, all of whom could be on the active roster tonight: Evans, Shelton, Anchrum, and Alaric.
TE will again be iffy with Higs on the list, It's Hopkins, Blanton, and Markway (if the Rams bring him up for this game).
At RB the Rams still have Michel and they get Henderson and Funk back this week so they are actually better off there than they have been in a while.
And everyone else else is available: Stafford, Kupp, OBJ, Jefferson, Skowronek, even Powell if they want a PR/KR/WR5.
How does that hurt the defense?Well, the DL is intact: Donald, Gaines, ARob, Hoecht, Copeland, Brown III. A weaker group without Joseph-Day, but they didn't lose anyone to covid.
At ILB they still have their starters in Jones and Reeder. Not sure what they do for depth. Hollins is an option, but he might be needed at OLB.
And speaking of OLB ... one starter is out (Miller) but the other's available (Floyd). As things stand the Rams will man OLB with some combination of Floyd, Lewis, Garrett, Jones, Hines III ... and Hollins (if he's not playing ILB ). Note: the Rams have no linebackers on their practice squad.
They have Ramsey, Williams, Deayon, and Long at CB. That looks solid to me, and they can bring Abrams, Stroman and/or Haley up from the practice squad for additional depth.
Finally, at safety, the Rams have Rapp, Scott, and Orr. This is the biggest problem spot going into the game tonight. Randall is on the practice squad and could actually be a big help if he is up to speed, but even with him this could be the weak link all night long.
AlbaNY_Ram
