Matthew Stafford, Jonah Jackson Injury Update, Which Rams Will Get Cut, Preseason Standouts & More

Intro we got a big injury update on Matthew Stafford and Jonah Jackson and which Rams are going to make this 53 man roster we're to look at some of those players on the bubble who made a strong case in the Rams last preseason game that's coming up next on lock 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 Tom Brady Shows Some Rams Love what is up Ramy and welcome to another episode of lock on Rams your daily podcast covering your Los Angeles Rams free and available rev get your podcast locked on Rams part of locked on podcast Network your team every day we're also available over on YouTube so 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 let us know what your thoughts on Tom Brady showing some Rams love so let us know down below my name is Doug McCain friends dmac you can follow me on X and Instagram at dmac corla I've been covering LA Sports for over a decade bleach report SI Dodgers Nation 247 Sports now the Rams 4 locked on and as always I'm joined by the Rams preh half and postgame show host for the Rams flagship radio station ESPN 710 La he just entered his ninth season covering your Los Angeles Rams the people's champ Mr Travis Rogers you can follow him on X Travis Rogers and on today's episode we got some more horns up horns down the best and worst PFF grades of the Rams second preseason game and a big injury update with Matthew Stafford and Jonah Jackson but first today's episode of lockdown Rams is brought to you by FanDuel now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free Tri of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit fanduel.com lockon to get started okay so we are Brandon Powell West Welker days away from opening kickoff yes Wes Welker was randomly a Ram one of these days but we're closing in and before we get into the injury news Tom Brady who some view as the goat he says showing the Rams some loves he thought that he said Fanatics Fest that the Rams are going to be really good this year and he believes they're one of the few teams in the NFL that are a threat to the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL so hey I like Tom Brady as an analyst already so definitely like he that from uh Tom yeah I I I uh let's just put it this way I'm a little skeptical as to how he's going to do as an analyst but I like that like you said like you said dmac that that Tom Brady is seeing something that leads him to believe that the Rams are one of the few teams that could give the Chiefs a run for their money I like it it makes sense right because if you're thinking about you know F first of all I think the Chiefs are being asked to do something that has never been done before and that's when three Super Bowls in a row that's never happened in the history of this league so history is stacked up against them so somebody is likely to clip them but what would have to happen you'd have to have a team that I think can score with them a team that's able to kind of go punch for- punch with them uh offensively I think the Rams at least theoretically on paper have the ability to do that whether or not they have the ability to stop Patrick Mahomes time will tell we'll see what chrisis defense looks like what it looks like without Aon Donald but uh offensively and then I think the other part of it is is do you have a coach that knows how to close the show and the Rams do right Sean McVey knows how to do this he's done it he you know Matthew Stafford knows how to do it he's done it there won't be you know fear or or anxiety or whatever those emotions may be going into a big game like that they're going to be very comfortable on that stage uh I think that's what you would need to beat the Chiefs and if that's what Brady's seeing I'm all for it absolutely and I definitely think it's going to be one of the interesting storylines this season him as a broadcast I never get paid Manning at the roast of Tom Brady he comes out there and he says I want nothing but the best for my friend everyone thinks that now that he's in broadcasting where Rivals again that I want to see him embarrass himself and fail and he said that's absolutely ridiculous it's coach belich who wants to see that so I definitely like seeing him in the broadcasting World roast of Tom Brady was classic and good to see him feel good about our Los Angeles Rams and really of course their success or failure is going to hinge on Matthew Stafford and we got some good news out of practice on Monday Matthew Stafford was reportedly wearing a glove on his left hand due to a little cut or wound that he suffered and they're being extremely extremely cautious now he didn't take part in 11 on 11s but if you look at some of the clips from practice he did look like he was moving well that the hamstring isn't a big issue yeah look he's out there he's moving maybe it wasn't 11 on 11s like you mentioned and you'd like to see that happen before you get to Detroit but again there there's time there there's a whole week they're going to Houston they're taking on the Texans a joint practice maybe he gets out there maybe he doesn't and then you got the better part of 10 days or so after that before you're actually out there uh getting ready to play a real game I I'm optimistic that he's going to be okay had had he just been standing on the sidelines doing nothing I think that's where you start to have your eyebrows go up a little bit and start to worry about uh how effective he may be but yeah I I I'm I'm in a pretty good spot mentally it's as far as where I think he's going to be uh like you said if he's not right none of this really matters after that it would be an incredibly steep uphill climb without him but uh looks like at least at the start of the Season you're going to have your most important guy Jonah Jackson Injury Update absolutely and when it comes to hamstring tightness if there was anything there there's no way he's going to be out there doing individual work and that's what he was doing so it feels like we're going to forget that we even had this injury to begin with so definitely that's positive that also one that's definitely definitely another positive is Jonah Jackson returning to practice he's been dealing with that Bru scapula he's been sideline pretty much the most of training camp so far he was back he was doing individual work as well so they're ramping both of these guys up they're not going to be participating in the joint practice session with the Texans later this week but just the fact that these two key starters are back there putting some work in definitely is a major positive yeah I I think of all the guys on the offensive line that we've been talking about missing time you're talking about alar Jackson you're talking about Jonah Jackson you're talking about Rob havenstein that Jonah Jackson was the one that I think Rams Fans and and you and me we all felt like okay maybe that's the one that might linger into the regular season maybe that's the one that isn't quite ready to go opening night in Detroit and that he was out there and participating and like you said maybe it wasn't full participation but that there was even partial participation uh I think is a really good sign this again you know we we've said this a million times the every dayers know this this was their big free agent acquisition this was the guy that they went out and targeted and spent money on and felt like you know that that they could put him there to move Avala to to Center kind of was the the piece that allowed them to start to move some of their offensive line around the way that they did uh you know he's got an injury history he missed some time with the Lions last year so that he's ready to go or at least getting closer to ready to go is is a really good sign he's a great player it's just a matter whether or not he can get on the field Steve Atwater yeah absolutely and that as you mentioned he was their big ticket item 3 years 51 million a couple years ago the big flashy guy was Allan Robinson also brought him Brandon pal that off season but this year it was an offensive lineman and the sooner he gets back the sooner he can build cohesion and chemistry with these offensive line that he's going to be paired with and that's going to be massive too so he definitely has dealt with the injuries and we saw couple of seasons ago it wasn't just the injuries it was just the fact that you couldn't get five guys playing together for consecutive weeks really took its toll and prevented this team from doing anything that season so get him back is going to be massive and I think for this team as a whole one of the other big storylines is Steve AA is Steve AA going to be a pro bowl Center in year one well we'll start with his potential backup and we're going to kind of keep it little quick transition we'll get one of these horns down in here and Mike mallister so Mike mallister he went in there he filled in for both limmer as the game progressed and he gave a lot of ground I mean the blocking game he wasn't really good as far as his run blocking led to some tackles for a loss just wasn't really getting very much at all of a push so I think Bo limmer has passed Mike mallister as the backup center and he's really making a big push to make this team yeah hopefully we don't have to worry about anybody being the backup center hopefully that Steve aala is the guy that just holds that down and you know kind of going back to him from his rookie season I think as good as he was and he was as effective as he was and he was the thing that just jumps off the page at you for me he played every snap of the Season like that that's not a euphemism and exi he played in every snap I talked to him uh shortly after the season had ended he took great pride in that and and rightfully so um I he is a durable guy obviously it's football and you're in the trenches and anything can happen but knowing that he has kind of durability knowing that he's got that kind of of strength and tenacity I think vodes really well for what they're trying to do uh you're right if all of a sudden he's unavailable for whatever reason um it does change things you know that did like we talked about a second ago with Jonah Jackson that all these pieces kind of fit together to allow these guys to slide to different positions if all of a sudden you have a a weakness or an injury at one of these spots it it could be a big deal and look depth is always an issue depth is always something that you're going to get tested on at some point in the season or not but uh hopefully it's not with uh with the center because he he was your rock last year and I think they're looking at him to be the rock again this year yeah absolutely that's another reason why you want to keep these Premier guards healthy because you don't want to have to see him go back there to the guard position where the focus needs to be on playing that Center Spot which they feel is his best position in year two and played at a high level and I think it's just one of the sport storylines during preseason is Bo limmer he's got the upside he's more athletic he just performed better than Mike McAllister and I think that he's got that backup center spot locked up you can never have enough death at that offensive line so yeah coming up next more horns up more horns down and a cornerback that we've been waiting to pop that just hasn't been able to do it that's coming up next on lock on Rams you know it's great when they took take two things that are awesome and put them together so you've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel right America's number one sports book well now we've got something a little bit different for you with FanDuel because now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and 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sitting at plus 300 go check it out fanduel.com [Music] Trey Tomlinson lockon and we are off and running here on lockon Rams thank you for making lockon Rams your first list in every single weekday free and available rev your podcast locked on Rams part of lockon podcast Network work your team every day also a special shout out to those everyday listeners out there watching and listening to every single episode of lock down Rams can't tell you much we appreciate you and you should join the everyday listeners Club too membership is 100% free and you won't miss a thing about your Los Angeles Rams all right Travis here in our second segment some more horns up horns down and a horns down for Trey Tomlinson Trey Tomlinson we've been waiting for him to take that next step to impress the coaches to make his cas to be on this 53 man roster and on Saturday he earns a 45.5 PFF grade another bad penalty he was called for a legal contact on that third and 19 that gave the Chargers a first down it was an incomplete pass and even on that pass he got beat Deep by Quenton Johnson and Easton stick was able to kind of help him out in that situation was a little overthrow by him but he just not he just hasn't looked apart I mean he's just not disciplined enough not making up plays and I think on the outside looking in for this 53 man roster well I I think the most important thing that you pointed out is that this is the second week in a row that something has happened that could potentially really hurt your football team and these are Big penalties these are penalties that result in first downs these are penalties that result in the other team getting to stay on the field getting to continue drives that look you're going to get beat occasionally everybody does that's part of the way uh that that Sports works you don't win every single time that's just not what it is but what you can't do is double lose and and and that's what's kind of happening with him is whether it's a a late hit out of bounds whether it's the uh the the illegal contact penalties that you're talking about and this kind of fills in some of the gaps that you and I have been talking about for the last season or so when it comes to Trey tomin and this why isn't he on the field well if I if I can't trust you not to take bad penalties I can't put you out there and and I think you've gotten to see it a couple of times this goes back to last preseason we saw some penalties from him there as well uh I you know coaches like predictability they like reliability they like knowing that if I put you out there this is what you're going to give me even if it's not perfect I need you to give me the same thing every single time and Trey Tomlinson just really hasn't been able to do that uh like you mentioned you and I I think we're both pretty high on him last year coming into the season it never really happened for him it hasn't really happened for him so far in this training camp and uh I I I tend to agree with you Doug I I wonder if he's actually a part of what they're going to do when we get to uh Sunday night in Detroit yeah they don't have a ton of Tyler Davis cornerback death but they also have Quint Lake and Russ East who can play cornerback in a pinch you got Darius Williams and travius white two big offseason acquisitions Kobe Durant has had a really nice training camp Jerry Jacobs he's going to be on this team as well so it's not like he didn't have his opportunity for Trey Tomlinson but he just hasn't made the most of it and then a player that we were really high on after the Rams first preseason game Tyler Davis he didn't have his best showing he had a 41.6 PFF grade but I think one of the issues was he wasn't playing nose tackle like we've seen him play he was mainly at defensive end I mean for a guy that's over 300 pounds not necessarily I think the best spot to optimize him and he was kind of struggling to get off the blocks there and he wasn't making very many plays in The Run game so not the best to follow up a great performance in his first preseason game from Tyler Davis well I think there's a couple of different ways to look at this there there's the way that you just described which is they had him a little bit out of position and maybe that's not where he's going to be best served for the body type or whatever it may be that just not the position that the the league may have in store for him and he didn't look particularly good doing it that's one way or the other way is they're trying to find a way to keep him to see what other things that he can do to see what else he brings and we they know we saw him against uh who was at at opening we Cowboys and he looked pretty good maybe not quite as good as Chargers but you get to see him in a different role and trying to figure out if you can use him here or there like keep in mind we've seen them move guys around the different places and try guys out of spots that maybe might be more traditionally suited for um I I I I'm curious to see what it looks like against the Texans I'm curious to see if if they put him back inside and whether or not he can have an impact against Houston the way that he did against Dallas outside does not look like the spot for him but that they were willing to try some things I think is actually a a a good sign for him that they're trying to see if he might have some uh versatility in there absolutely for sure Osan matsu that's definitely a spot where he can provide some value and then Osan matys he definitely needed to have himself a good afternoon to keep some momentum going for him to see if he can find a way to make this 53 man he had an 87.7 PFF grade played well against the Chargers Nick Hampton a 50.4 PFF grade he's going to make this team my opinion he had two pressures and 10 pass rushing snaps wasn't the best but I mean if you look at the Battle there I mean Byron young Jared verse Michael hoit those the locks I think you got Brennan Jackson and Nick Hampton I think Osan matthus and Zach van valkenberg that uh H is gonna beat those two guys out VIN venberg look good in the in the two preseason games but yeah I think you're right I think it's just a matter of of numbers there and maybe there's some uh practice squad availability for some of these guys but you know this is just one of those things that is so true about Just Sports in general and especially when you get to the highest level of these things like you're talking about in the NFL there are more good players than there are places to put them right just because you don't make a team doesn't mean that you're not a good player doesn't mean that there isn't a future for you in the league some teams have a a a surplus of certain positions and a deficit at others and you know you just got to find you know get in where you fit in sort of situation and right now those guys may just be the odd man out in the numbers game absolutely when you Practice squad look at practice squad players by the way less than two seasons 12K a week so could be 216,000 a veteran player you're looking at 20K per week do you think they're properly compensated I'll take it I I'll go I'll go play a little practice squad do they need a practice squad like a field goal kicker holder guy I could do that I could I could catch it and put it down I could do that absolutely I mean anything anything I mean anything this team right that's what really I'm here I'm here to serve I'm down to get my brains beat into uh to make 12K week could be a part of the Rams or give me just you know I'll do it for free I football is you know so brutal I'm not gonna be able to do that not a chance not a chance for sure but uh coming up next some more horns up horns down and a player who wasn't in uniform in the Rams second preseason game that is a strong indication about how the Rams feel about him that's coming up next on lock on Rams Cameron Kitchens welcome back to lockdown Rams thank you for making lockdown Rams your first listen every single weekday fre and available rev get your podcast locked on Rams part of locked on podcast Network your team every day all right Travis so one thing to always look out for for the Rams during the preseason is which players start the camp in uniform participating in games and as the preseason progresses are on the sideline and are not in pads and one of those guys that's graduated to that is Cameron kitchens Cameron kitchens he played the Rams first game against the Dallas Cowboys but after that he's getting that veteran treatment that I'm going to make the team treatment he's with guys like Jared bur and Braden Fisk and Blake Korn not in uniform but not injured as well so this is someone who could potentially be making a run to be the starting safety over John Johnson I third so really impressed by him well when you saw him against Cal Bo in that opening game it was obvious that he was you know for lack of a better phrase just a little bit different than a lot of the other players out there it just that just looked like it was of NFL quality of NFL caliber and yeah when when you saw him like okay he's not out there that's a very good sign for him I you know they they spent a relatively high draft pick on him this is somebody that they are counting on this is somebody that like you said may work their way into a starting position I'll go back to John Johnson when they first drafted him originally he was kind of a a mid- round draft pick that's like okay let's see if he makes the team let's see if he finds his way on the field and by the middle of the Season he was your starting safety like he he he progressed through it in in a blink of an eye so I think that there's an opportunity for history to repeat itself there a little bit with kinchin because he looks like an NFL player despite having never played a real NFL game Absolutely I'll never forget lesne during the game saying that he's earned their equity and Trust so if he's saying that pretty much all you need to hear definitely a bright spot kinchin I think is a playmaker from the U love the college pred degree love what I've seen early on I think he's someone's going to be a force for this team and then Zack Evans another guy almost in that same tier as Trey Tomlinson where you thought wow maybe the Rams found someone later in the draft that was going to be a key contributor and he hasn't been able to burst onto the scene like you were hoping as 51 carries in his career during the preseason and he still hasn't had a rush over nine yards and this is someone who averaged 6.9 yards per carry in college and was supposed to be that guy they could break off some big runs and on Saturday averaged 3.9 yards per carry 62 yards for the game on 16 attempts and Boston Scott who had that nice little 34 yard run to put the game away definitely outperformed him there's just not enough space for him to feel really good about where he is on this team because you just go down the depth chart you know who's making it for sure you know Kiron Williams is a part of it you know Blake korm is a part of it uh they they made a move to get Boston Scott during the off season so you know that he's likely going to be a part of it Ronnie Rivers has been a part of it somebody that they seem to have uh a decent amount of trust in and rely on him so that just makes it incredibly difficult to unseat one of those guys and even more more difficult when you really don't shine in the preseason like we're talking about and again it it it's just a numbers game it doesn't mean that he can't play it just probably means that he can't play here and and like to to your point that doesn't mean there is an ability there and somebody may be able to unlock it but it just hasn't happened here there's just not going to be enough opportunity for him to play here because even if one or even two guys get nicked up a little bit and they can't go he's so far down the depth chart that you can't imagine you know even last year when they were Des to get guys out there and they were resigning Daryl Henderson to come back he still didn't get an opportunity there so I I think the writing's on the wall for Evans yeah and I was so excited about Outro him just a one cutand go type running back that can make some big plays but he just has not shown that if you look at his college tape what we've seen with the Rams it's like where is that guy and that's what's frustrating when you see Zack Evans and as you point out you look at the running backs room you got three guys that are set in stone the cemented ones the the K Williams the Blake corms in the Ronnie rivers and then Boston Scott's just been better he has more experience in this link is a little more versatile so I think when you kind of get past the third string there to have someone that can add something a little different if you need to go there is definitely a positive and that's what he brings and Zack Evans just simply doesn't but that's going to do it for this episode of lockon rams my name is Doug McCain you can follow me on exit Instagram at dmac corla and you can follow the people's champ Mr Travis Rogers at Travis Rogers and until next time whose house it's locked on RAM house