#Rams 2023 Preseason Depth Chart Released, #Chargers Preseason Preview [Saturday, 8/12]

what's up everybody welcome back to another episode of Ram's Brothers the Pod I'm your host Dean and I'm joined as always by my brother and the other fantastic host of the show Nick and Nick training camp is over the Rams released their 2023 depth chart we have football on Saturday real football uh kind of but first and most importantly how are you good where do you think preseason ranks in like usfl XFL preseason preseason's all the way at the top yeah I guess you're right I mean I I tuned into the Hall of Fame game to watch Zach Wilson and Aaron Rodgers and the play calling and Rob Salin all the the angles that are coming out of that camp and obviously there's Hard Knocks that's debuting as we're kind of segwaying off of our most recent conversation we were talking about how much good off-season content there is so like that to me is always going to be more interesting it's always going to draw more eyeballs especially when it talks about um and features a high profile first round draft pick except Wilson it was a second overall draft pick so it's always going to be preseason unless there's like a high caliber player in the usfl or the The Arena Football League that you know everybody wants to watch like a Johnny Football right yeah I am going to buy a bunch of brown stock right now because I just think that they have the chance to really be like a like a completely out of nowhere number one seed this year in the AFC so really from last to first in the division first of all where where does that come from a minute and a half into the podcast and second of all why um well I mean you you have to Sean Watson for a full year who when he was on the Texans top five QB in the entire league and all these top 10 lists nobody wants to put them in it and I understand why you don't want to cap them in the conversation um their defense looks really good from that preseason game they have a lot of like you know Heavy Hitters and Joe Barrow just went down that division is wide open I mean I don't know if he's I don't think you know he's probably gonna do his thing as well but I I think the Browns have a chance to really really be a excited I have the least confidence in them I think that coach can go somewhere else and and be successful but that division is extremely difficult I don't have any faith in the Cleveland Browns I don't even know where that comes from in the beginning of the podcast those preseason they can't I turned that game on and I was like oh my God jets look at the Jets and then because it's preseason you'll watch a full preseason game I mean unless it's the Rams which I'll probably will watch the full thing Saturday um and I like I checked the score I'm like oh my God the Browns won I watched the highlights and I was like damn you know that's inspiring hey what's Ram's Chargers you're the one who has the Rams Chargers a historic preseason record in your back pocket can you refresh us on what that is I don't think the Rams have ever beaten the Chargers in preseason that's okay I'm almost positive we're not looking for wins we're looking for young talent to be developed live in these games coming out of training camp we're looking for some of the position battles to uh to to obviously reveal themselves for for somebody to emerge whether it's a young player whether it's somebody that's been within the system for a couple of years and then also outside of that right we have the uh the depth chart being released right so we we had a conversation about the 53-man depth chart what that's going to look like um some of the position battles within that depth chart but then you know who are you going to see within this preseason game who are you going to see some of the backups you're going to see some of the third shrink fourth string guys special teams at least you can get a feel for how that unit is going to perform uh going into 2023 but I think for the most part like starting right off at the top like the Ramses training camp has it wrapped up yesterday it seems like Sean McVay just right off the top seems like he's extremely encouraged and it came out via the of Ryan Clark's uh the pivot podcast that he's committed yeah amazing podcast he's committed long term he's committed to resetting after initially considering retirement roughly six months ago and he said it last year it was so real that you know that kind of reset needs to happen just so that he could be able to put the kind of Foundations he wants in place so that he could instill the type of vibe he wants for his players and so that he could have a legitimate plan not only to end the season going into the off season but then going into The Following season with how he wants to construct his roster and how he wants to go about the game schematically and I think after you just kind of start to lose control a little bit in 2022 and everything kind of starts to unfold you're obviously going to reconsider those things and consider some of the other options that are on the table like being a broadcaster but I like I didn't feel like he ever had an appreciation for the success that he had considering how hard and fast it was and considering how young he was he came out and said the exact same thing but he took a step back he reset his mind and he said he's there's no consideration of of retirement in the near future for right now so you're all in as a head coach you're optimistic about some of the approaches modeling the way some of the methodologies that they're instilling into this team and into some of the older and younger players that are on the roster I'm encouraged as a team that was second to last in the division who's playing a third place schedule speaking of the Cleveland Browns this is going to be a team that I feel like is going to be a force to reckon with just based on the schedule based on some of the young talent and some of the new things that they're going to be able to roll out schematically yeah and just to kind of talk on Sean McVay and like kind of what he said in the pivot podcast I'm gonna say just a talk on DeShawn Watson for a second lose my mind go ahead I just separate the art from the artists on that one um but Sean McVay I feel like last year we actually saw The Human Side of him because he has very much been almost like a robot and like an aggressive robot but for him to like you know almost like contemplate his uh mortality in the sense of you set out a goal you achieve this impossible goal in your life and then you're supposed to continue on with your life when really that's like kind of the end like in your mind you're like you do the impossible thing and you're like okay I did it it's done like now I you know I can kind of rest but that's not how life works and just to kind of see him go through that very Human Experience and now come back on the other side and be like yeah I'm you know I'm I'm glad I reached that point so now I can come back to what I like you know doing what I love which is similar to kind of the post 2018 Sean McVay who lost the Super Bowl and then you know gets a whole new appreciation of like okay I've reached this Mountaintop and now I have to climb it again and that's the fun that's the beauty and once you start to realize that you know you can kind of start to have fun again and I think that's a lot of what I'm hearing from from the camp from JD and from all these podcasts is that the Rams are from Whitworth they're having fun right now which is you know something that you love to hear especially with a bunch of new guys yeah it's reminiscent of the previous years and I think for the most part like some of these good things that are coming out of training camp like have to do with mcvay's new refreshed mindset and you know they come out of training camp for the most part healthy obviously there's the Cooper cup hamstring injury and a couple of other Ticky tack injuries along the way but maybe that's that's due to just you know skewing the roster a little bit younger it's it's due to a longer off season a little bit more of a mental rest a physical rest a healthier mindset you know tweaking workloads for some of the players that are coming off of of injuries and Veteran arrest days and just some of the refined approaches that they're able to carry year over year to continue with the health of the players to continue to be able to instill some of these really really smart and I think committed mindsets and methodologies that they just build into their everyday work so I think for the most part overwhelmingly encouraging coming out of this training camp the fact that you had injuries on Cooper cop obviously is is one that we're going to have to monitor over the next couple of weeks but there's Darion Kendrick had a hamstring injury Hunter long had a groin injury Davis Allen had a hamstring injury they're all dealing with those soft tissue injuries and they're all finicky and it's holding them out as precaution and they ended up missing the entire Irvine Camp which is a little bit upsetting but they're all players that we feel like are going to get some legitimate reps this season and then havenstone had a neck strain Robert Rochelle was dealing with an angle Ben's chronic with a back injury and Warren McClendon was dealing with the slight right knee injury and same with oshaun Mathis but all five of those guys ended camp in Irvine on the field so I mean when you talk about just like major season impacting injuries similar to the Jalen Ramsey meniscus tear that they're dealing with in Miami and we're closely tracking Jalen Ramsey as he goes day to day through his rehab those are the kind of injuries that set team back holistically and they're the kind of pieces that you need to be able to get over the hump in difficult playoff spots and difficult scenarios late in games so just the health of the core Matthew Stafford looks like he's so much how he Aaron Donald's body just physically looks bigger stronger faster and now that they're instilling some of those uh some of those tactics schematically where they're going to double triple team like those are all just kind of getting him ready for the season and it just feels like that there's a ton of optimism in the building and it's geared with the right energy in the right directions yeah Matthew Stafford saying he likes his job again because for the last two years it was like you know hurting his body and it was not fun to work and now I feel like I like you know like my job again I was like two years not just last year like for two years they've been hurting you know when you won the Super Bowl like I think last last year had to be particularly difficult because he had the injury that was related to his spine there was a spinal contusion so he lost a feeling in part of his bodies plus then you layer on the the uh to it s heart I think that the whole family was just concerned over his longevity in the league and just for the future of us him being a father you know those kind of things are all being contemplated in that time yeah and then that led to the whole you know Rams are shopping Stafford and all this stuff yeah which I mean that's why it feels like it's been an overwhelmingly long off season and I couldn't be more excited oh it feels like probably the longest in quite some time because the season was over by like week 10 last year so right that's exactly how I feel it's like it just feels like everything is moving a little bit quicker now but beforehand it felt like everything was moving slowly we're creating episodes about gambling and everything else in between but now the depth chart is really sick and gambling isn't ever going to be legal in California you'd probably know better than I want it sure would uh the depth chart is released 42 players on offense 44 players on defense and three special teamers right now there's 89 total players on the roster right now so they have to cut down four players by August 16th which is a week from today to get down to 85 players on the roster because they're at 89 right now and then a week from 8 16 which is the 23rd of August they have to go down to 80 players and then finally on August 30th they have to trim their final roster down to 53 players and if you're confused with how the Ramses depth chart is laid out it's specifically because whoever put the depth chart together thinks that the Rams are still running Wade Phillips is historically great 3-4 base defense so let me see if I can pull up the Ramses 2023 depth chart right now we can go through any call outs and surprises that we noticed as we were looking through the latest and greatest Nick sound good yeah don't even employ Wade Phillips's son anymore yeah Wes Phillips is hanging around with Kevin O'Connell in the Vikings War Room trying to scheme up a game plan for Brandon Powell Kirk Cousins it's got to be difficult not good enough to win let me go ahead and share my screen okay Rams is first unofficial depth chart okay so here's what we're looking at so if you just kind of go um one by one down the line you know it's it's going to be a little bit overwhelming but I think that some of the position battles is what we want to focus on Nick I think some of the position battles between Joe noboom Alaric Jackson Brian Allen and Coleman Shelton like those are all conversations that we've been consistently having over the past couple of weeks but alright Jackson I feel like he's the guy that's the most stable in that position he showed the most throughout last year showed the willingness to be able to earn that position and Joe nopum we're hearing is shuffling around a little bit they're playing a little bit of Right Guard to see where you can get the most out of him to see where he can be the most efficient and I think that that's the goal in the exercise of the Rams is offensive line right now is how can you plug and play five or six really talented players into positions to where they could all be successful and work off of one another as one consistent holistic unit with continuity right so that's going to be the difficult part Brian Allen Coleman shell does the loser go to Right Guard it seems like it's tremend Akram right now who's are in that starting Right Guard job um and then you know you look at some of the receivers which I think is really interesting because too too Atwell is currently wide receiver three which is The Z Spot in the Ramses offense where Britain Cooks where DeSean Jackson and others have historically done a ton of damage with puka nikoa behind him right and then there's Ben scaronic behind Cooper cup in the slot as the Joker player whatever you want to refer to him as and you feel that he has the same type of Versatility in terms in in terms of some of that pre-snap alignment stuff and being a mismatch in size so that match I feel like is perfect just in terms of the depth chart slotting and then there's Demarcus Robinson who's listed behind van Jefferson as the ex can the two combined be obj in the Super Bowl please that's the kind of contribution you need from those two guys at that position Jefferson stock now is the time buy all the van Jefferson stock you know what it seems like he had a couple of Veteran days off throughout training camp and I think that he's one of those guys that you kind of want to monitor right because he missed some time last year a day-to-day injury ended up in surgery which he missed like six to eight weeks at some point so I feel like the health of some players guys like van Jefferson cam makers Joe noboom Logan Bros Brian Allen Jordan Fuller some of the guys that got vet rest days and were all practicing for the majority of Camp is an encouraging sign so yeah Nick I agree with you entirely buy stock in Van Jefferson in hopes that you're going to be able to uh to get in a thousand yard season and hopefully a really solid second contract out yeah I you know I think that's going to happen I'd be I'd be shocked I'd be shocked I think you have to have a year from one of these guys especially just you know you gotta cross your fingers on Cooper cup especially because you know he's not even practicing right now right right and you have to hope yeah somebody is lower lower body injuries can lead to a larger injury it does happen right and just hoping and praying that some of these other guys are going to step up and my money is on Van yeah amongst all of the players that are on this list I also have a big big green circle on Kyron Williams who every everything from Camp all reports are saying that Kyron Williams is a much much improved pass catcher out of the backfield which to me is going to be a really really important Dynamic uh player that's going to be able to contribute to this offense a big way if they're able to be consistent so I that to me is is a player that I have circled um and Ronnie Rivers Royce Freeman and Zach Evans are all a little bit lower on the depth chart so you're going to see a ton of them in the preseason and then if you just kind of look at the defense you kind of got some of the same situations brewing with the Ramses defense right and some of the guys up front and this is what I talked about with Wade Phillips's 3-4 defense you got four starting linebackers and three guys starting up front so you're looking at Marquis Copeland or Ernest Brown and then Bobby Brown or Kobe Turner so when you look at potentially some of the the preseason stuff and who you're going to expect to see up front you know you're going to see guys like TJ Carter or Laurel Murchison Deshawn Johnson Troy Benson's son um some of those other guys van valkenberg here Thomas oshawan Mathis if he's healthy Nick Hampton Daniel Hardy you're going to see all of those guys rotating within the front I think early on but then you're going to see guys like Byron young and Michael Hoyt as potential starters who are going to be held out so to me the identifier is who the starters are the guys that are held out in the preseason so that seems pretty obvious with the way that the Rams have operated over the past couple of years but Michael Holt and Byron young and then whatever rotation comes after them whether it's Daniel Hardy and Nick Hampton or Daniel Hardy and cure Thomas or Nick Hampton and Kier Thomas you'll see a little bit from them and then you know you'll see a little bit more from some of the other guys that are further back in the depth chart but I think for the most part first and second team if you just collaborate all of those players on offensive defense you're going to be able to scale back to 53. it's just a matter of finding some of those guys in the third and fourth tier like the Lance McCutchens from last year that are really going to be able to contribute and give some of these guys a run for their money yeah yeah should be fun particularly on the defensive side of the ball I mean for the preseason game just to see you know the first couple snaps who's going to get in there yeah I mean guys like Trey Tomlinson we were so excited about him in the draft that could be a player that gets a ton of snaps in the preseason and and chose to be a successful player in a certain sub package in a specific scheme that raw likes to run there's Robert Rochelle Nick who's I think he's a fourth year player at this point it's not going to be coming back but could get potential valuable snaps in this defense with Aubry Pleasant coming back maybe helped refined his skill set and some of his techniques maybe he could be a successful player on this defense as a depth guy um so there's you know Jake Hummels like a really good special teams player that you're going to see play a ton of linebacker and Jonah Williams and some of these guys that have been on the roster for Laurel merchants and some of these guys that have been around for a little bit um and that's what's I think is going to be exciting about the preseason is like you're going to see some of these faces rotating in and you'll get a feel for you know who some of Aaron Donald's confidence are going to be when it's crunch time yeah because it's not going to be gains anymore gains is gone Gaines went with Baker that's what I'm saying you have to find who's going to be the next great Gaines who's going to be the next a Sean Robinson and to me right now right right and to me right now who are those players going to be it's a battle of Marquis Copeland and Ernest Brown and then Bobby Brown and Kobe Turner so you could see the two Browns up front rotating in with Aaron Donald in Wade Phillips's 3-4 defense or you could see uh you know just a plethora of guys rotating it depends on the sub package it depends on the the down and distance right it depends on the Personnel grouping so you're going to see plenty of guys rotate in on the front and then on the back end as well I think what's really interesting about the secondary is Jordan uh I was going to say Jordan Fuller John Johnson's back I mean that's that's the excitement that we haven't even really celebrated yet is you're going to see a little bit of Jordan Fuller and John Johnson potentially is your two starting safeties right now it's Russ yeast right so you're going to see a little bit of rust East in the preseason that to me would be an identifier that John Johnson is going to be potentially the starter right and then there's Richard lecount and Jason Taylor Jason Taylor's a guy and and Quentin lake is another guy who I feel like can be dying linebackers in some of those sub packages that they run when they're not in the nickel and they need to have an extra defensive back on the field to get to six so you know some of those hybrid like you know those those linebackers that are a six defensive back like a tailor wrap or a mark Baron going back to like 2016 2017. you know they haven't had a ton of talent in that position so I feel like now they have a couple of players that they could rotate into that spot yeah just a quick shout out John Johnson come back absolutely yeah do the old little can we get one of those please Choppa style oh my God I think he's had like that's why there's more interceptions in his Rams career than Ramsay ever had not that Ramsay was ever like that kind of player but still and just kind of you know worthless I want to say just because it was just tweeted by Roberto Clemente on Twitter not the real robot Roberto Clemente but the one that is a fan of the Rings uh I think it went um Jalen Ramsey at 10 interceptions Troy Hill at nine and then John Johnson at eight uh so I I got the order completely mixed up that's okay correct me if I'm wrong Rams Fans and you remember I think no I think I I think you're right but I believe that that's correct I'm not 100 sure so like the depth chart exercise Nick I think is really fun I I think that um you can kind of go through it and we'll do that in the next couple of weeks is just kind of go through similar to how we did you know weeks prior and try to pick out the top 53 players and this a lot of this will be based on who performs well in the preseason because some of these the starting offense at least for the Rams in 2023 in the preseason led by potentially Stetson Bennett Nick I think is going to be much more enjoyable to watch for for you versus watching John Wilford watching price Perkins and those kind of players well you have to think Stenson Bennett at this point in his career which is crazy to say but he should be able to start for the NFL um somewhere I would think yeah maybe not maybe he's like 34 or 35. I think he's like you know in the Gardner minshu like first up type of backup category but exactly how he plays when you know in real time yeah it reminds me of that clip from John Gruden where he's reading the playback to Chris Sims and he's like why 32 xc4 flat and he like he can't get the play and like it's just because that's what's happening with Stetson Bennett right now is a lot of his successes are coming on off scripted plays where things aren't happening or he's not going through his progressions correctly or he's not following the off-ball linebacker or his eyes aren't reading the field like there's so many different things that could happen obviously you're a quarterback um so I wonder if he's getting uh if McVeigh is getting a goth flashbacks to like young Jarrett when he wasn't really understanding things I'm sure but it has to be a way that's making him a better Coach since yeah but I mean the Chargers have such a good defense like I'm it's pre-seasoned you don't care if the Rams get a win or not at all um but still to see Stenson go up against the first reps of whoever the Chargers have will be very telling um because there could be enough there could be a chance where he looks really bad which would be terrible but right I'm really really interested to see the first like 20 minutes of this game and if I'm doing that I probably would be going well I mean you think about the starting the starting uh 11 players if you're in you know 11 personnel this is essentially what you're going to be looking at quarterback Stetson Bennett running back Karen Williams receivers Lance McCutchen Tyler Johnson Austin Trammell tight ends Bryson Hopkins uh kalinchich and sins and McDonald with uh Hunter long and Davis Allen currently battling injuries uh AJ Curie potentially going to start at left tackle Sean mcginn could potentially start at left guard Mike McAllister undrafted player starting at center right tack or Right Guard Zach Thomas right tackle Warren McClendon is he healthy enough to start um so I think there's a lot of question marks but I you know in terms of the depth and rounding out your full 53-man roster you want a player that's going to be consistent in sound players that could highlight in these kind of positions could and may feature players like Warren McClendon Mike McAllister Bryson Hopkins Tyler Johnson right like these are the kind of some of the guys that you have your eyes on in hopes that you can see um something that you know looks and resembles like an offense that could be making strides in 2023 yeah particularly I think that the tight ends because you know stenson's going to be if the play designs aren't you know going the way that he wants I feel like the unscripted play will probably be a dump off to the tight end so we'll see how he is with uh Hopkins I'm upset that Hunter long and Davis Allen are both hurt right because it's the guy he essentially traded Jalen Ramsey for uh not obviously not a one-to-one trade uh and the salary dump was involved and helped with salary cap for next year but there's Hunter long who everybody wants to be successful on this team because of Larry he was traded for and then there's Davis Allen Who's the rookie it was drafted who is currently dealing with a hamstring injury and you don't like when young players deal with hamstring injuries but it does happen earlier on in Camp hopefully he can get that to a place where he could be a reliable Target for Stenson Bennett because to me it was Hopkins and Hunter long and Davis Allen were going to be his three primary targets you can look at guys like Braxton Burmeister and Austin Trammell and Tyler Johnson as receivers but you know to me it's going to be foundationally just Reliant as a Young quarterback on a tight end to be able to get your offense going yeah 100 percent so so yeah I'm excited Saturday we got Rams football baby we got Rams football on Saturday I got Rams Chargers football in sofa do you know the home team is by any chance no um my guess is I think it's I think it's the Rams because I think their next two games are away I think it's Vegas and then Denver that's a good call and then they have two of those those scrimmages that they're going to be hosting I think Denver and the Raiders or those two others so also outside of the cup news um everything I'm hearing from Rams training camp is that people are having fun and having a good time and nobody's injured and everybody's healthy where I feel like every other team it's some kind of negative thing uh I cannot stop seeing enough negative stuff about Dak Prescott and Danny dimes just throwing all these interceptions I'm like what's up with the NFC East look why can't these guys get it together Cardinals look like a total crap shoot um and then apparently the lion scoff is playing the best he's ever been which is all the reports we all know that there's no direct correlation between your performance and training camp and how you perform I know like people want to act like it's it's like it is great though to see that there have been limited injuries and if there are injuries there they're limited turnaround times in terms of being able to get back onto the field um and I feel like the head coach is all in again I feel like he's ready to like go through the next three year window with the helmet on and leading the charge coming out of the tunnel and the most energy he's ever had in his career yeah so it should be great it should be a really fun year no matter what and we'll be here along the way just another 100 reasons to uh to love the new regime even if you don't love the Rebrand you know you don't love some of the players on the roster some of the decisions that have been made at least you can appreciate the fact that they are consistently trying to be a great team and we haven't always had that in this generation of ramps so make sure before you guys go that you [Music] hit the like subscribe button we need all the help that we can get okay support the Rams Fans support the Rams brothers and we'll be here for the foreseeable future take care guys thanks for listening peace go Rams