And just like that, football is back! The Los Angeles Rams are preparing for their first preseason game of the 2024 season against the Dallas Cowboys with a joint practice against the same team on Thursday.
**Insert obligatory statement — Sean McVay doesn’t play starters in preseason**
But there will be plenty to learn about the rest of the Rams roster that do play over these next few weeks.
Los Angeles Rams: Offensive Players to Watch In Preseason Week 1
Jimmy Garoppolo, QB
The Rams brought Jimmy Garoppolo as insurance for two players; Matthew Stafford and Stetson Bennett. They wanted a quarterback who could come in if Stafford were hurt and a warm body in case Bennett wasn’t ready to rejoin the team.
He seemed to be the perfect, steadying force who was also familiar with the offense, but Garoppolo was unimpressive during training camp when throwing deep or outside the numbers.
Garoppolo’s injury history reads like a Stephen King novel. That is to say, it is horrific and very long. The most recent injury, a lower lumbar sprain, officially caused him to miss one game, but he was benched in favor of Aidan O’Connell for much of the second half of the 2023 season.
His ceiling was never high, but Garoppolo’s floor was around competent. Have all of those injuries resulted in a lowered floor? Sunday will be his first test in nearly 10 months.
Offensive Line Depth
The Rams sustained three injuries across the starting offensive line, then two backups went down in the joint practice with the Chargers. Since then the Rams have added three offensive linemen – Conor McDermott, Matt Kaskey, and Alec Lindstrom.
Without more concrete news coming out about these players, it is likely that the Rams will be playing without their intended starting five. The Rams invested heavily over the last two seasons renovating the offensive line. How these injuries pan out will have an outsized impact on how the Rams 2024 season goes.
Jonah Jackson, Rob Havenstein, and Alaric Jackson are the injured starters. KT Levenston and Warren McClendon are the two backups. McClendon was repping with the first team in place of Havenstein.
Joseph Noteboom, Zach Thomas, and Beaux Limmer, in addition to the three newly added linemen, are players to watch on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys.
Tyler Johnson and Jordan Whittington, WR
The Los Angeles Rams top three wide receivers are set. Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua, and Demarcus Robinson will be the starters. But a fun battle arose during training camp, WR4.
The two true standouts from camp were Tyler Johnson and Jordan Whittington. Johnson, who was a free agent added last year and spent most of 2023 on the practice squad emerged as a tough ball winner on the second team. Whittington, the Rams 6th round pick in 2024, proved to be an explosive game-breaker when thrown to.
The final stat line may not show what these two can do on the field, as they are dependent on baseline quarterback play, but pay attention to how and when they get open against the Dallas Cowboys. You might be surprised.
Xavier Smith and Drake Stoops are on the roster bubble with Tutu Atwell likely to make the 53-man roster.
