LOS ANGELES — This training camp hasn’t been like the last couple for the Rams. There have been big battles for starting jobs. The key rotation on offense and defense was pretty much settled after two straight playoff runs. Instead, the real competition has been on the edges of the roster, for final roster spots.
Perhaps the most heated of these is coming from the cornerback room. Four jobs are already settled – Darious Williams, Ahkello Witherspoon, Cobie Durant and Emmanuel Forbes. But several players with NFL experience are vying for what might ultimately be just one final roster spot at the position.
A.J. Green III, Shaun Jolly, Derion Kendrick, Cam Lampkin, Josh Wallace and Charles Woods have all had moments in camp where they’ve made their case to make the Rams’ final roster. But at most only two will make the Week 1 roster.
“In this league, it’s tough because sometimes you have to say goodbye to very good players,” defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant said. “The cool thing about this entire defensive back room is they’ve done a really good job of embracing the talent and embracing the competition. In the NFL, the elephant in the room is the competition and that’s OK.”
Lampkin, Kendrick and Woods probably did the most to help their cases in the preseason opener against the Dallas Cowboys. Lampkin had a falling interception in the end zone. Woods allowed one reception on two targets in 17 coverage snaps, all of which came at the star spot. The one catch he allowed ended with Woods making a nice open-field tackle to stop the receiver for a 2-yard gain. And Kendrick was targeted only once in 22 coverage snaps.
Green gave up two receptions but balanced it with two pass breakups. Jolly lost leverage on a couple of plays, but rallied to have a good enough day.
Wallace played the entire night at safety, which might mean he doesn’t fall into the cornerback bucket when roster decisions are made. But even if he’s considered for a different position, that still leaves five corners competing to make the roster.
“You really feel good about whatever combination Aubrey and Beake put out there,” defensive coordinator Chris Shula said. “So it’s a big competition. It’s gonna be a big couple weeks of training camp for some of those guys.”
Joint practice
The cornerback’s next test will be Thursday in a joint practice with the New Orleans Saints.
Organized in Carson at the last second due to the Chargers canceling their planned joint practice with the Rams due to injuries, the Rams are in a unique position. Typically, joint practices are against preseason opponents, meaning the two teams won’t see each other in the regular season.
But the Rams host the Saints at SoFi Stadium in Week 9. So the team has to find a way to toe the line between getting in a good day’s work without putting too much on film ahead of that meaningful game.
Head coach Sean McVay and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur spent part of their morning Wednesday going over the play sheet for Thursday, making sure they were careful about what they show the Saints.
“There’s going to be a lot of film and data out there at that point,” LaFleur said. “Right now it’s still early so we’re just thinking about ourselves.”
“There is that extra thing where you typically don’t do this against teams we play against,” Shula added. “So how much do you want to show? But you still want to run your stuff and test your rules. It’s always that fine balance.”
Injury note
Quarterback Matthew Stafford was not on the field for Wednesday’s jog-through practice.