The halfway point of the 2024 preseason for the Los Angeles Rams has already passed. Only one game remains next Saturday against the Houston Texans, then the reduction to the original 53-man roster will soon follow.
We have seen the breakthrough of players like Jordan Whittington, Omar Speights, Beaux Limmer, Xavier Smith, Tyler Davis, Logan Bruss, Josh Karty and others. Unfortunately, there have also been players whose reputations have declined, including Zach Evans, Tre Tomlinson and to some extent Stetson Bennett.
Although no general conclusions can be drawn from the results of the previous season, valuable information can be gained from individual performances over the course of the season.
Here are X things I learned from the Rams’ first two preseason games and training camp as a whole:
1 – Rams have found their kicker for 2024
There’s no guarantee that Josh Karty, whom the Rams selected in the sixth round of this spring’s NFL Draft, will be a successful kicker for long. Even when a kicker has a strong stretch or the entire season, he’s still inconsistent and can get caught up in his own thoughts. While the Rams franchise has offered stability at the position with everyone from Jeff Wilkins and Josh Brown to Greg Zuerlein and Matt Gay, there’s no guarantee that Karty, even if he’s strong as a rookie, will be there for three, five, or nearly a decade.
The sad thing about Josh Karty is that a loud minority in the Rams fan base will have absolutely no patience with a rookie kicker.
Greg Zuerlein converted less than 75% of his kicks as a rookie. You can’t get out just because the guy has a bad game or misses a kick.
— Blaine Grisak (@bgrisakTST) 18 August 2024
Nevertheless, it is a big plus that Karty has passed all his tests so far. He is said to have been accurate in training. Before last Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers, the rookie apparently shot field goals from 55 meters. In the preseason as a whole, Karty converted four of five field goal attempts and scored the game-winning extra point against the Dallas Cowboys. His longest attempt was from 45 meters, although he missed his only attempt from over 50 meters.
The Rams have found their kicker for 2024, but it remains to be seen if Karty is the caliber of player who can provide stability to the franchise for several years. We’ll know more as time goes on.
2 – Logan Bruss looks like a completely different player
It seems unfair to talk about Logan Bruss’ poor preseason performances over the past two years, but after significant improvements, it’s worth taking a look at how far he’s come.
As a rookie in 2022, he played just 63 snaps before suffering a season-ending injury. In those snaps, he earned a pass blocking grade of just 2.6 from Pro Football Focus (PFF). In 2023, he managed to increase that grade to 32.9 after switching positions from guard to right tackle, but that’s still well below the threshold of what we’d expect from a former third-round pick.
The script has completely flipped for 2024, and now Bruss appears to be a player to keep. He posted a near-top pass block grade of 89.5 in the opener against the Cowboys, then posted a total block grade of 71.4 against the Chargers (though his pass block grade dropped to 55.7 after allowing pressure on one of his six true pass sets; sample size doesn’t matter).
With injuries mounting on the front line, it now seems worthwhile to keep Bruss as both a short-term backup and a player with long-term potential. It took a while to get here, but Bruss now looks like the player the Rams thought they were getting when they selected him with their first pick in the 2022 draft.
That was Logan Bruss defending the pass for much of the second half. The defender was unable to gain any ground trying to get to the quarterback.
Bruss does a good job with the mirroring. The feet look good. pic.twitter.com/4UQBbHK80q
— Blaine Grisak (@bgrisakTST) 13 August 2024
3 – The battle for the off-ball linebacker squad is getting exciting
This is what the situation currently looks like at middle linebacker:
Ernest Jones – starter, but injuries have kept him from/at training
Christian Rozeboom – Co-starter in base defense
Troy Reeder – seems safe, plays mainly on special teams
Jake Hummel – seems safe, plays mainly for special teams
Omar Speights – on the brink, outstanding player in the preseason
Olakunle Fatukasi – probably from the 53-man squad, played well in the preseason
Both Speights and Fatukasi have played well enough in tryouts so far to earn a spot on the roster, but it’s a matter of numbers and no one knows if they’ll stick around. If the Rams don’t add them to the 53-man roster, it’s quite likely another team will claim one of them off the waivers list.
Hummel has proven over the past few preseasons that he is the best coverage linebacker on the Rams’ roster — even better than Jones and Rozeboom. LA should find a way to get him on the field in place of Rozeboom during the regular season, although it might still be better overall to use an extra cornerback or safety on obvious pass attempts instead of a linebacker.
The strong preseason performances of Hummel, Speights and Fatukasi make me wonder if all the players who didn’t play are really safe. Could Reeder be on the fence and simply not play because the Rams know what they have in the veteran? He seems less of a sure thing than Rozeboom, and it would be smart to keep the young linebackers around as Jones enters a contract year.
Who will the Rams keep at middle linebacker?
