Rams head coach Sean McVay held a video conference with local media Sunday afternoon, looking ahead to Tuesday's deadline for NFL teams to reduce to their initial 53-man rosters, discussing the timeline between Sunday and Tuesday, the role of special teams in making those decisions and more.
Here are some of the key takeaways from that conversation:
Practice Monday, then decision time
The Rams will get one more practice in Monday with the same group of players from last week, according to McVay, then begin to whittle the roster toward 53 players.
"We'll have a chance to practice tomorrow with the same group, and then Tuesday morning will represent those decisions and things like that," McVay said. "We have to mandate giving guys three days in a row off per the CBA, so Tuesday through Thursday will reflect that for our team, with us playing on the eighth. So that'll give us the opportunity to kind of operate in the normal timeframe as far as making those cuts on on Tuesday morning."
Arcuri in play as 8th or 9th offensive lineman
Should the Rams choose to keep keep as many as eighth or nine offensive lineman on their initial 53-man roster, seventh-round pick and rookie offensive tackle AJ Arcuri is "definitely in consideration" as that eighth or ninth player.
While Arcuri is primarily a tackle, he also repped at guard at times during the preseason. In Saturday night's finale against the Bengals, he started at left tackle. He was initially playing at right tackle.
"He's only gotten better taking coaching from (offensive line coach) Kevin Carberry and (offensive assistant) Nick Jones," McVay said. "He's got a good look in his eye, and he's done a lot of really good things. And I think you've seen the improvement from preseason week one to yesterday, and that was evident just based on taking your experience, applying it the right way and then trusting the techniques and the fundamentals that Carberry is asking him to execute, to be able to play at a high level."
Special teams, Bills gameplan will influence how initial roster gets rounded out
Rams general manager Les Snead during his Coach Cam appearance on ABC7's broadcast Saturday night said the Rams go to 48, then figure out 49-69 when it comes to reducing the roster – the 49 to 53 representing the handful of players who will be on the initial 53-man roster but may not always be activated on gameday, followed by the practice squad.
When it comes to figuring out who fits in what bucket between spots 44-48 and 49-53, McVay said it's about fielding the most competitive roster against the Bills on Sept. 8, and also "heavily influenced" by special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis and special teams assistant Jeremy Springer.
"We're continuing to work through that right now," McVay said. "It's a good problem because we've got such a competitive roster, but in a lot of instances, there's probably a lot more clarity than maybe some other teams as it relates to just how we approach the preseason."
