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LA Rams News: Search high and low for these players
The LA Rams will search high and low for talent, as these players can attest to as they have been signed to play for the Rams
ramblinfan.com
The LA Rams will go to great lengths to find talented players. In each draft, or even after the draft, it always seems that a player or two hails from parts-unknown, a school or university that nobody had mentioned, that nobody had bothered to write a draft profile about. I like that aspect of the Rams organization, a team willing to go the extra distance to find talented players.
The strategy seems to work, as the team ultimately promotes several undrafted players to the active roster. The team not only finds players from Division 3 schools but even from our northern neighbor of Canada. Hopefully, the strategy will not change.
As teams integrate technology, a competitive edge will be tougher to come by. Meanwhile, the advance of technology places solid-state technology into the palms of anyone with a smartphone. Films and information about college football players are just that easy to get now. Instead of too little to work with, NFL scouting departments face too much to work with.
I was reminded of this characteristic about the team when I ran across a recent article by NFLDraftDiamonds.com Damond Talbot indicated that the Rams had added two players to their roster from unlikely locations. Who are they? Let’s talk about them, shall we?
Center of parts-unknown
The LA Rams have offensive lineman center Nate Trewyn out of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He is a good size for an NFL center, standing 6-foot-4 and weighing in at 315 pounds. Originally signed after the 2019 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he was waived from their team in November 2019. Of course, that was about the time that the LA Rams needed offensive linemen, and the team immediately signed him.
Trewyn had plenty of pre-draft interest. The Green Bay Packers, the closest NFL team to his school, scouted him heavily. He was a decent center filling a need for the NFL in a draft class with few options. He was also scouted by the Chicago Bears, the Minnesota Vikings, the Dallas Cowboys, and of course, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was the only Division III player invited to compete in the NFLPA Bowl game in Pasadena, California.
Nate on the radar
We haven’t discussed Trewyn much because, frankly, he is under our radar as well. He remained on the team’s practice squad last season and signed to a reserve/futures contract in January 2020. The Rams were definitely interested in drafting center Cesar Ruiz, but the New Orleans Saints selected him in round one.
So, the Rams settled for their existing options of current centers of Coleman Shelton, Brian Allen, Austin Blythe, and Nate Trewyn. Of course, the team signed sleeper Cohl Cabral to the roster after the draft. The center position is critical for the Rams offensive line.
Kanada Kicks
When the LA Rams failed to re-sign kicker Greg “The Leg” Zuerlein in free agency, the expectation was that special teams coordinator John Bonamego believed that he could do better. Of course, there were NFL options, but Bonamego had his eyes set for a bigger prize. It was a tremendous sigh of relief when the Rams announced that they had signed a kicker before the NFL Draft.
In fact, the team signed two kickers. The team signed former XFL kicker Austin MacGinnis. Then the team announced signing CFL star and veteran kicker Lirim Hajrullahu, who hails from Western Ontario, Canada. Hajrullahu is the pre-competition favorite, as his kicking has made headlines for several years from the CFL. He is 5-foot-11 and weighs just 205 pounds. Not only that, but he was also both kicker and punter, which gives the Rams a huge advantage if All-Pro punter Johnny Hekker cannot play for some reason.
Hallelujah Hajrullahu!
Long-range accuracy is his strength. In his career, he booted 41 out of 49 kicks from the 40-49 yard range (83.7 percent accuracy) and 14 out of 16 from the 50+ yard range (87.5 percent accuracy). In his last two seasons in the CFL, he kicked 31 out of 31 for field goals beyond 40 yards. You cannot kick better than that. Perfection. BOOM!
The guy even has his won video Hallelujah Hajrullahu, and I definitely recommend you check it out. I like Sam Sloman and Austin MacGinnis. But to be honest, I can see the roof coming off of the new SoFi Stadium as soon as Hajrullahu booms a 50-yarder through the uprights. He even was interviewed by Junior Admiral. The LA Rams are in need of football stars, and if this were tryouts Hajrullahu would have nailed the audition. Of course, it’s more complex than that, but it proves once more that finding talent for the LA Rams requires a big net.
