Wesley Bailey wasn’t on anyone’s radar to make the L.A. Rams 53-man roster, but a strong showing against the New Orleans Saints on Saturday had some comparing him to Leonard Floyd, a former top-10 pick in the draft. Eating against Alex Wollschlaeger, an undrafted rookie out of Kentucky who is listed as the Saints third-string tackle, Bailey hit Zach Wilson with a first quarter sack.
Later, Bailey fought off a block in the run game to punch out the ball at the goal line to keep New Orleans scoreless
on the day. An impressive performance in a preseason setting.
One month ago,Turf Show Times compiled over 100 53-man rosters compiled by Rams fans and made a single consensus edition, and unsurprisingly it did not feature Bailey. Nobody would have expected that for an undrafted rookie going into his first training camp and Bailey’s $35,000 signing bonus was decently-sized, although not as much as Dan Villari.
There just wasn’t a lot about him that stood out, and Bailey didn’t even rank among the top-10 players to not make the cut on those 53-man rosters.
Instead, Rams fans projected that L.A. would only keep four edge rushers, including Desjuan Johnson as the last man in behind the obvious top-three. Instead, Keir Thomas was on 33-percent of your rosters, which ranked as the most for any outside linebacker who didn’t make the team.
If Bailey doesn’t make it, he could commiserate with Wollschlaeger, a player widely expected by Saints fans to get cut by the team in a week.
But even the practice squad would be a phenomenal accomplishment for Bailey, a player who had 15.5 sacks over five years in college between Rutgers and Louisville. In comparison, Floyd had 17 sacks in three years at Georgia prior to blowing scouts away with a 4.6 40-yard dash at 244 lbs at the 2016 combine. Bailey got onto L.A.’s radar before the draft too, running a 4.69 40-yard dash at 260 lbs at the Louisville pro day. Floyd also had a 5” higher vertical.
Sean McVay felt that Bailey had improved from where he was in the first preseason game, during and after which there were a couple mentions of Bailey but not many.
As usual, the clues behind who will make the Rams roster and who won’t are not subtle with McVay: It’s not who plays well in the preseason, it’s who sits on the bench in the preseason.
Bailey has played a lot of snaps in two preseason games. If he sees the field in Week 3 against the Chargers at all, he’s still fighting just to make the roster. If he sits, he’s likely already on it. Whereas we know the Rams have four edge rushers already on the 53, we don’t know if they’ll keep a fifth and who that might be.
We do know that Bailey looks like a better football player than Wollschlaeger. Is he a better football player than the guy the Rams would have to cut in order to keep him?
Rams backups highlight the NFL’s flawed beauty in 34-0 win over Saints (Sporting Tribune)
Thousands of football fans traveled through an asphalt skillet and sun-baking rays to sit in SoFi Stadium air thick with the smell of polyethylene pellets and concession food, littering empty seats and staring down at a field full of men fighting for their lives.
Peter Pan lost his shadow in Wendy Darling’s nursery. Peter Pan never played football. Peter Pan never had to stare down the barrel of an NFL roster cut or feel the August sun bake his last hope into the turf.
Not the marquee names. The other ones.
The New Orleans Saints never stood a chance in the 34-0 drubbing.
Brenda Song makes color analyst debut for Rams (B/R)
Actress Brenda Song joined the broadcast of the Los Angeles Rams’ preseason clash with the New Orleans Saints as a guest color analyst on Saturday.
She was part of the CBS broadcast in the third quarter of the game, which the Rams went on to win 34-0.
“After her stint in the booth on Saturday, maybe we’ll see Song next during a regular season game.“
Zach Wilson on Saints 34-0 preseason loss to Rams, “Yeah it was ugly” (WDSU)
The Saints (0-2) stirred up their own quarterback competition with Zach Wilson and Spencer Rattler playing one half apiece at SoFi Stadium, but neither prospective backup to Tyler Shough stood out during a rough overall outing for New Orleans.
Rattler moved the offense better than Wilson while facing the bottom of the Rams’ defensive depth chart in the second half, but the Saints also made two goal-line turnovers, with Rattler throwing an interception that was returned for a 100-yard touchdown by safety Alex Cook.
Wesley Bailey is making it incredibly tough for Rams to cut him (RamsWire)
Outside linebacker Wesley Bailey has stood out as an undrafted gem, using his natural length to win against offensive tackles and continuously establish dominant positions as a pass rusher. He’s done his part to blow up the opposition, both in practice and the preseason. Having drawn comparisons to Super Bowl winner Leonard Floyd, Bailey emulated Floyd’s destructive ability with five tackles, one sack, and four quarterback hits in the Rams’ 34-0 preseason win against the New Orleans Saints. Plus, he punched the ball out of Ty Chandler’s hands inside the 5 to preserve the shutout.
6 standouts from Rams’ 34-0 win over Saints (RamsWire)
RT Austin Blaske
Keagen Trost is injured right now but Blaske has been a bright spot at right tackle. He played well against the Saints, both in pass protection and the run game, making a case to stick on the practice squad if he does get cut next weekend.
The Rams didn’t allow a single sack and gained 5 yards per carry on the ground, a testament to the play of the entire offensive line.
5 Takeaways from Rams’ 34-0 preseason Week 2 win over Saints (Rams)
Takeaways for days: Safety Alex Cook took a pick-six 100 yards to the house with 9:06 left in the third quarter to give the Rams a 27-point lead. Then late in the third quarter, Bailey’s forced fumble inside the Saints 5-yard line was recovered by defensive lineman Payton Zdroik. While the ensuing drive after the fumble recovery didn’t amount to points, it still kept New Orleans out of the endzone.
Comment of the Day
Sometimes you just want to see Ty Simpson.
RamFan1970: Man, we are never going to get to see our offense in this 2nd half. I’ve never been so disappointed to get a pick 6….Lol
