Rams First Depth Chart Revealed! Surprises, Takeaways, Blake Corum Returning Kicks & More

we've got the Rams first unofficial depth chart of the regular season and there's some big surprises that's coming up next on locked on [Music] Rams you are locked on Rams your daily Los Angeles Rams podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what is up Ramy and welcome to another episode of lockon rams your daily podcast covering your Los Angeles Rams free and available wherever get your podcast locked on Rams part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday also if you haven't yet do us a huge favor and subscribe to lockon Rams YouTube channel hit that subscribe button hit that notification Bell hit that like button and also let us know what is your biggest takeaway from the Rams first depth chart of the Season let us know Down Below in the comments actually getting close to 14,000 subscribers should hit it by this weekend my name is Doug McCain you can follow me on X and Instagram at dmac corla I've been covering LA Sports for over a decade bleach report 24/7 Sports SI Dodgers Nation the Rams for locked on as always I'm joined by the Rams pre-af and postgame show host for the Rams flagship radio station ESPN 710 La he's entering his ninth season covering your Los Angeles Rams the people's champ Mr Travis Rogers you can follow him on X at Travis Rogers and on today's episode we've got the first depth chart of the season for for the Rams opening game against the Detroit Lions we're going to break that down but first today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a 3- week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit fanduel.com locked on to get started all right Travis it's like sha McVey said s is getting real and it's getting realer than real now because one we're just Greg zerline days away from open kickoff and two you look at this dep chart the first big takeaway I have is look at the specialist and we talked about kyen Williams being listed as the punt returner well you have Blake korm as the kick returner in the first Rams depth chart of the season and I think Rams Fans first reaction to that is well wait a second with a new kickoff return rules this is someone who could be returning two three kicks a game yeah versus K will who you're going to see a lot of fair catches probably 90 plus% of the time this makes no sense to me for a hundred different reasons let's start with the top three I'll ask again why is two two outwell on the team let let let's just start with that if Tut two outwell is not doing this what's he here for it because you don't throw him the ball he doesn't catch the ball he doesn't do a whole lot of things in a receiving capacity so if his gift is this unbelievable speed why is it not uh being Unleashed in the return game I don't understand that number two going back to the kyn Williams thing if we're just going to fair catch punts why him why not have somebody that is a receiver first and foremost why not Cooper cup or pukaa or anybody if we're just GNA re do Fair catches there that doesn't make any sense to me and thirdly in the new kickoff rules this is the one that maybe makes a little bit of sense that you're going to try to use him in a way that maybe he's not going to get a ton of carries backing up Kiren Williams at least at the beginning you want to find a way to maximize which does do but I also think that the ball's going to be kicked out of the end zone far more than anybody's anticipating uh I I just don't quite understand the goal of this I I I'll say it again I'm gonna let Shawn McVey do his thing I'm gonna let lesne do his thing they have been right way more frequently than they've been wrong but this one on the surface of it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me yeah and with the new rules you're going to try to prevent teams from touchbacks and there's a really high probability that he's going to be returning kicks like I just said I kind of looked up his history for the show he returned 18 kicks at Michigan but that was a couple years ago there came in 2020 and 2021 you look at the depth of the Rams running back group and look one of the big differences this season was the commitment to not just the running backs but the offensive line to create holes and their commitment to Duo and and going to the Gap schemes and everything they've done with their running games so much more physical front so yeah I mean to have your top two running backs in positions where they're going to increase their workload and when you do that you increase your injury probability is definitely an unusual move to say the least well think think about what you just said too and you're right you're already shuffling the offensive line because a it's not working the way you wanted it to or B it's injured or C all of the above so that's not a good sign you've got a Kiron Williams player who has an injury history pugan akua is still not 100% healthy according to everything that we're hearing and reading you've got a quarterback who is of an advanced age still really good but one hit away from having STS and Bennett be your guy and you've got Cooper Cup who we're still looking at and thinking okay is he GNA be like he was a few seasons ago or is he starting to slow down on a more permanent Le uh level there there's a whole bunch of things going on offensively and that's supposed to be the part of the team that you worry about the least that the defense was supposed to be the part that had the most question marks but when you look at the Rams offense if everything is operating as it's supposed to they're going to be pretty darn good but the're they're only a thing or two away from really having to fill some pretty significant holes uh hopefully it doesn't become an issue hopefully they stay healthy hopefully in particular Matthew Stafford stays healthy but there there are a lot of questions on that offense that I don't think we would have had when the whole SE when the training camp opened up yeah for for sure and I think when you look at just the new rules too he's kind of a guinea pig too I mean throwing him into a guinea pig spot where you're trying to see if you can have success with that and how it impacts players and yeah the preseason was one thing with the new kickoffs but it's going to be totally different during the regular season because preseason you're trying not to get injured you're trying to figure things out they're going to really cut guys loose in the regular season with that new kickoff so yeah it's definitely interesting I mean to see one running back as one of your special teams Specialists as P trying to kick Turner is already a little different but to see two you got to hear what sham MC has to say about this now other big takeaways you mentioned the offensive line we talked about yesterday's show well it's official you look at Steve Avala he is at left guard Jonah Jackson is at Center so Ava moving back to the position he played in his rookie season Jonah Jackson taking over at Center and I think that this does absolutely give them their best combination as far as their their front to start the season but yeah consider everything we heard about Steve aala during the offseason during training camp and how his best position was going to be centered he could be a multi-time pro bowler all prer a pro bowler this is definitely just I think temporary but uh it's definitely something to follow early on the season it again put this firmly in the category of okay I'll I'll I'll roll with this but making this change at this point in the season really is curious it it's they they must have seen something that they really didn't not like with Steve Avala at at Center there there's no way that you make the decision to move him to Center at the end of last season which they did they go through basically all of camp with him as your Center and then right before the start of the Season you say no we're not going to do that he's going back to guard and we're going to put the guy that we signed to be a left guard at Center who has not played a ton of football there in the last couple of years it just does not make a lot of sense on the surface unless there was something that really stood out as something uh of a weak spot so again that that's something to look at Steve Al is a great player a tough player he played incredibly well at left guard so I'm not worried about him holding his own at that position I'm just more curious as to what led to the position change to begin with why the one decision several months ago and then look had they opened camp and after a week or so said H it's just not what we were looking for that doesn't work okay that's fine that that happens all the time but that they got right up to the one yard line at the start of the season and made the change that's very interesting to me yeah and like you said sha MC must have seen something he did not like and whether that be Steve AA giving the most of the Reps at the center spot for a good portion of the off season and Jonah Jackson knowing you need to utilize him in some capacity he's your big offseason free agent signing and I mean he doesn't have a ton of experience there just 24 snaps in his NFL career but hey it's the first game in Detroit on the road in the first two games of the season so I think that looking back considering how temporary this possibly could be or long term that really is the big question as for me as far as was this the right decision but yeah I mean we're getting they're throwing some curveballs at us I they're throwing some curveballs at us as far as the depth chart goes it's really unlike them you know what I mean and I think that's probably why it it hits you the way it hits you why it hits me the way it hits me and a lot of Rams Fans probably feel very similarly it's that the Rams are pretty Steady As She Goes they really don't Shuffle unless they need to shuffle they really don't make head scratching moves like all of a sudden your middle linebacker is gone right before the middle of the season your two uh running backs are placed on special teams return Duty uh kind of out of left field this is very un Rams likee it look again I I know I'm repeating myself if they like it I love it let's see what it looks like but for the first time in a while going into the season you're like yeah what exactly are they up to we'll see what it looks like in a few days yeah and also the fact that Rob havenstein he did participate in individual drills you got to feel good about him starting you look at the rest of the depth chart up front you got Rob havenstein at right tackle you got Kevin Dawson at the other guard position Jonah Jackson at Center Avala at the left guard position and left guard at left tackle you have Joe nopu who we talked about yesterday but some more surprises some more takeaways from the Rams first unofficial depth chart of the season that's coming up next on locked on Rams all right you've heard us talk about FanDuel a lot right FanDuel is America's number one sports book because it's incredibly fun you can take all of the best parts of football and make it about you make a little money along the way right whether you're talking about team totals player props you know money lines all the different things that you have at FanDuel but this is a little bit different we have something a little different for you right now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with a YouTube TV Bas plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game if you've never had the Sunday Ticket you don't know what you're missing it is unbelievable all the football all the time all you need is a Google account and a current form a payment and you can cancel at any time it's easy too just visit fanduel.com and download America's number one sports book for a 3-we free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV and welcome back to locked on Rams thank you for making lockon Rams your first listen every single weekday free and available rev your podcast locked on Rams part of locked on podcast Network your team every day also a special shout out to those everyday listeners out there watching and listening to every single episode of lockon rams and you can join that everyday listeners Club too you just got to watch or listen to five episodes a week join that five episode per week listeners Watchers Club and then you won't miss a thing about your Los Angeles Rams all right we're going to pick it up in the second segment about the defensive side and I think you could probably make the case of one of the most interesting details of this first unofficial depth chart is travius white and Kobe Durant listed as co-starters at the cornerback spot and Darius Williams he's the number one cornerback but at CB2 travius white or Kobe Durant is what it's listed at and I think what's so interesting about that is is this just academic is this is there something deeper to this because Kobe Durant was getting first team reps throughout the entire summer and I think the Rams might be really looking at giving Kobe Durant more more reps because we know how high they were on him last off season he was kind of anointed as one of the big kind of pillar corners of their future then definitely took a step back last season had a really good offseason really good camp it looks like he's training in the right direction as someone that could be a key contributor this season yeah I I I think that's the the positive way to look at it I think that's the right way to look at it that this is a player who continues to improve this is a player who continues to earn the trust of the defensive coaching staff of Shawn mcveay and a person that you can kind of just leave out there and know that they're going to get the job done way more often than they're not that that I think is right and accurate and positive the other way is maybe travius white isn't quite delivering what you were hoping he's going to deliver we'll see so much of this is speculative so much of this is what we think it may look like or trying to read in what we think that may have happened at practices or joint practices or whatever this is that again sea McVey and his coaching staff have done an awfully good job I was reading something this morning about how you you almost just have to assume that they're making the right move because they really haven't made very any wrong ones along the way minus the one bad year after the Super Bowl and that was directly related to all sorts of injuries along the way so wherever they have these guys I'm willing to start with them and feel pretty good about it but I was a little surprised that that uh Trey white wasn't listed by himself yeah absolutely I just think that it just speaks to the fact that Kobe Durant's very talented they was a little bit miscast I mean when you look at the Miss tackles he had 11 Miss tackles last two years that's definitely not you want to be at and really the coverage grades on the outside is an area where he could definitely improve and help this team I mean in 2022 that's definitely was the highlight coming off his rookie season where he was he led the league in interception return yards and last season gave 370 yards and just 42 targets allowed a pass rate of 98.3 so definitely had a sophomore slump after a promising rookie season but looks like he's training in the right direction once again as far as travius white you mentioned on this show a couple different times he's one of the X factors one of the wild cards on this team because we know that when he's at its best when he's healthy he's not just a pro bowler he's an all pro level Talent he's just coming off some big- time injuries you're coming off a ACL a Achilles injury and just about hey what travius white are we going to get and if you get close to the best version this could be one of the best secondaries we've seen since Jaylen Ramsey somebody's going to do something on defense that we're going to be like that's amazing somebody's going to do the thing that's like not that makes you forget about Aaron Donald because that's impossible not that makes you think okay you're better off without that's impossible but somebody's gonna have a season that makes you say you know they're a lot better than I thought they were individually you the defense collectively is a unit we'll see what that looks like but somebody's gonna pop on defense hope you know maybe it's Jared verse maybe it's Braden Fisk maybe Byron young goes to another level Maybe Darius Williams or Trey white somebody's going to pop on that defense and I'm kind of excited to see it because while I wish we didn't have to live with in a world without Aaron Donald getting to see a defense without Aaron Donald is something very new and I think that somebody somewhere on that Rams defense is going to take advantage of it absolutely I think it's a fantastic point because they are upgrades Darius Williams and travius right white those are upgrades at corner a better optimized version of Kobe Durant is someone can absolutely help this team in a big way but on top of that Cameron curl I think is going to be the player that Rams Fans are going to fall in love with early I think he's a leader leader I think is going to be extremely impactful and you combine him with John Johnson with Cameron kinchin quent Lake you're going to see him in the slot close the line to scrimmage he's someone that could be wearing the green dot he was named as a team captain and then I think what's also really exciting is too is Chris schula and all the safeties and how he's going to utilize it we're going to see tons of three safety packages four safety packages with John Johnson with kinchin with yeast I mean all the people freaking out about the loss of Ernest Jones and rightfully so but I think one thing that is going to kind of ease it a little bit early on the season is seeing how Chris utilizes those safeties but to your point I mean you just don't know how many one-on ones you're going to get for Byron young for Jared verse for Kobe Turner I mean these guys along the offensive line The Edge rushers because the truth of the matter is we could spend 10 breaking down the defense but we'll know more in one quarter with how they play without Aaron Donald on the field so hey Sunday's coming guys and we're gonna it's gonna hit the fan very soon we're gonna see when rubber hit meets the road what this defense looks like without ad well I for sure for sure and here's the thing you know kind of putting the two things that we've talked about so far on today's pod together the offense is going to be what leads this team as far as they're going to go over the course of a 17 Game season and however far they get into the postseason if they get into the postseason but what happens early in the season I think may have a lot more to do with the defense than anything else because of what we're talking about they're reshuffling the offensive line you have some injuries to some key offensive players or at least some little nagging things along the way that maybe will be okay or maybe will become lingering issues so I'm not so sure that if early in the season your defense isn't what's going to kind of keep you in some of these games to a point until the offense could get fully healthy start to fire on all cylinders not unlike what we saw last year last year the offense was really kind of sputtering through the early part of the season and all of a sudden they caught fire and over the last eight weeks they were fantastic into the playoffs they were fantastic but I wonder if this won't be a little similar that the defense even though we don't know exactly what it's going to look like doesn't have to kind of lead this football team for maybe the first month or so so that offense can finally catch up get healthy find its footing find its Rhythm because again this is the first few games for all of these guys together in a very long time yeah absolutely and if you look at projections I don't care what website it is what publication it is yes you will see this Rams defense projected as a bottom third defense in the NFL having said that that's what they all said about the defense last season and for a good portion of the season they definitely were one of the strengths of this team so it's tough to determine how they're going to look with some significant changes but other big takeaway is the inside linebacker spot I mean you go from having Bobby Wagner to Ernest Jones to Troy reer and Christian Rose boom and yes we talked about the fact that the way they're utilized in the system and the way the Rams value inside linebackers you have to consider that but still I mean when reer was with this team a couple years ago he struggled in coverage he struggled against the Run he missed a ton of tackles Christian Rose boom is not necessarily a guy that you think can project as an above average player but I guess you just have to supplement it with the other areas of this defense and hope they can put them in positions to get spots but I'm telling you when I wake up at 3:30 in the morning a cold sweat Travis what I always think about is going up against these run heavy packages the 49ers the Cardinals the Seahawks The Eagles I mean teams on their schedule this season how they're going to try to take advantage of that weak spot with the Rams linebackers and I mean just look at leaport and St Brown over the middle in week one I mean so we got to see these guys performing how are you going to adjust to that I I think you bring up a really good point and and I'm optimistic hopefully the Rams can score a bunch of points on Sunday night I don't know if the lions are going to be a great litmus test for where the Rams are yeah the the the the Lions pretty good the the Lions have a real shot to go to the Super Bowl for the first time in the history of their organization uh it's going to be at home they're basically running the same team they've got got a whole bunch of advantages going into this one I I don't know whatever happens on Sunday night I don't know if that's necessarily an indicator of what's going to come up on the next 16 weeks absolutely I it's a fantastic point that you just I mean the barometer there going up against a team on the road that's hungry it's going to be a rockus environment and you have it's going to take a couple of weeks to truly assess what this team has especially when you look at Braden Fisk and Jared verse those are two rookies that they're going to need a lean on on that side of the ball so totally agree with that point as well still you got an experienced Matthew Stafford you have buan AA coming off a historic rookie season Cooper cup he definitely looks the part early I think he's in for a Revenge season I think the offense does have what it takes to put up points and try to win with the football and hopefully with KY Williams and Blake corm they don't get you know nothing bad happens to them on special teams they can carry this team offensively but coming up next some more takeaways from the Rams first unof official depth chart of the season it's real folks opening kickoff this week that's coming up next on lock on Rams passion drive and patience the winning formula for championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and a whole lot more so whether you are into speed power or style eBay Motors they've got you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you will always find exactly what you're looking 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kind of went off on him a couple different times but you look at the takeaway here and you have Davis Allen ahead of Hunter long as the Rams te2 behind Kobe Parkinson and Davis sound he was playing with the first team throughout training camp it was pretty clear he was going to be Kobe Parkinson's backup who is the starter but yeah no Tyler higgy and you got Hunter long behind him and I think Davis Allen just he's someone that big Target Big Catch radius guy that can move the chains I like him early in this offense getting some opportunities yeah I do too and I I keep going back to what we were talking about before which is his involvement later and later into the season last year that I think that's really and hearing people that really understand Shawn MC's offense talk about it the opportunity for tight ends to make an impact early in their careers is pretty low it's an incredibly complex position for a new player coming out of college to learn there is a pretty steep learning curve and that Allen was able to kind of take that learning curve on and by the last what call third of the Season or so that he was a regular part of what they do I think is very very encouraging obviously they went out and made the the acquisition for part he's going to have a big part of this we haven't really seen him used as a pass catching Target all that much in his previous role at his previous stop but I think that could change a lot and again put it into the mix puka may not be right we still don't know exactly what's going on with Cooper cup we know they're gonna have a a one-two punch at the running game but maybe the the uh tight end position is something that they really lean on moving forward yeah and he's not a guy that will wue as as athleticism a 48440 I mean there's been talk about that but I think for him in this offense the opportunities he going to get they know it's sideline to Sidelines move the chains take advantage of his size put him in spots to just catch the football they're not asking for an elite tight end or anything like that so yeah I like Davis Allen I mean big Clemson guy Clemson as a program they' fallen off Elite status he's not gonna be a lead tight end but still I think he really helped this team yeah no for for sure and and Clemson you know maybe you get with the times maybe you decide that nil and the transfer portal are not mortal enemies that you could actually I don't know treat the athletes with a little bit of respect moving forward that's just me but uh that's more of a a Clemson topic than it is a a Rams topic um I I'm optimistic I look this comes back to the the two most important things or the three most important things I guess the way that you can look at it is that cqi the coach quarterback and injury the coach they've got covered the quarterback they've got covered assuming Health the injuries and this is already what we're talking about here right this is because Tyler higgy is injured he's down you're putting new guys in new spots to see what they can do if that eye piece of the cqi holds up I think the Rams are going to be in pretty good SP pretty good shape especially offensively 100% I totally agree with you on Clemson too it's time to embrace nil if you're them you're not going to get recruits just because you have a big slide in your football field last time I checked Bernie the Brewer is not an elite High School recruit that's gonna come to Clemson so yeah for sure but that's going to do it for this episode of lock on Rams my name is Doug McCain you can follow me on X and in Instagram dmaca and you can follow the people chat Mr Travis Rogers Travis Rogers and until next time whose house it's locked on rams's house