The Los Angeles Rams have made another tweak to the back end of their roster, and this one comes at the expense of a draft pick. After initially keeping defensive lineman Tim Keenan III around on the practice squad, the team has now terminated him from that spot and replaced him with edge rusher Jamie Sheriff.
Keenan’s exit is notable because he was a seventh-round selection, and his release means the Rams are now down to four members of their five-player draft class on the roster or practice squad. It’s also the second straight year Los Angeles has cut a draft pick at roster cutdowns, following linebacker Chris Paul Jr. last season.
The move didn’t come out of nowhere. Keenan never really separated himself during camp or the preseason, and the numbers reflected that. Among defensive linemen who logged at least 51 preseason snaps, he finished 125th out of 134 players with an overall defensive grade of 32.3 from Pro Football Focus.
Sheriff, meanwhile, gives the Rams a different kind of look on the practice squad. He entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Seattle Seahawks in 2024 and stayed with the organization through this offseason. In the 2024 preseason, he finished second in total pressures with 12, and among players with at least 50 snaps, he ranked 21st among edge rushers with a 78.8 overall grade from PFF.
His appeal, according to Brendon Nelson of Seahawks On SI, goes beyond the raw preseason production. “Despite being a relatively low-level prospect, Sheriff has pro-level measurables in a few key areas,” wrote Nelson.
“Most notably, his 10 yard split of 1.63 seconds is quite good, particularly given he tips the scales at 255 pounds. He can get the edge and win quickly.
He’s got a good deal of versatility to his game as well, being able to play standing up or with his hand in the dirt.”
Los Angeles now has another developmental edge rusher to pair with Darryl Peterson on the practice squad. The Rams had hoped to carry two edge rushers there, but Wesley Bailey made the active roster and Keir Thomas landed on injured reserve, which changed the equation. Sheriff also arrives from a division rival, which doesn’t hurt.
For now, the practice squad remains a moving target, and this is simply the latest example. The Rams are moving off a player they drafted in April and taking a swing on a different developmental piece at a position where extra depth still matters.
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