The hardest part of the offseason in the NFL is cutdown day when teams have to make the difficult decision to trim their rosters down to 53 players.
Like the other 31 teams, the Los Angeles Rams were able to finalize their 53-man roster for the 2022 season and it had a couple of surprises. The primary one was the release of Jacob Harris, a former fourth-round pick with the athletic profile to play both tight end and wide receiver.
General manager Les Snead talked about the roster and admitted that the rise of undrafted free agent wide receiver Lance McCutcheon was a factor in Harris getting cut, via Cameron DaSilva of USA Today:
“Probably at the end of the day, Lance McCutcheon had a big part in maybe knocking Jacob off the roster in terms of just having a better preseason at wide receiver,” Snead said. “We’ll definitely try to get Jacob back and he’s definitely someone who, speaking of special teams, Joe DeCamillis would activate on game day and play all four. So I think that’s the reason for that.”
Harris was an intriguing prospect coming out of college because of his athleticism at his size, and he looked like a promising receiver before injuries ended his rookie season abruptly. The converted tight end seemed like a lock to make the roster due to his positional versatility, but McCutcheon’s preseason performance was too good for the Rams to pass up.
Fortunately for Snead and L.A., Harris went unclaimed during waivers and they were able to re-sign him to the practice squad. The Rams had to have felt confident about him making it back to them and now they have the ability to call him up whenever they’re in need of bodies during the season.
