[UPDATE: The Eagles have placed Lampkin on Injured Reserve. I believe they still have the option of designating him to return.]
We are currently witnessing an incredible example of both Philly Psychology and the loser mentality of other fan bases in motion. Check out what has transpired in the last 24 hours on the Eagles and Rams waiver wire:
First, the Eagles claim injured undrafted free agent G/C Willie Lampkin from the Rams. Most fans have absolutely no idea who he is (me included) and gave the move little reaction. Next, some pundits come out to say that this is a steal by the Birds since Lampkin is talented despite being small for an interior offensive lineman. Then Rams fans start to accuse Howie Roseman of breaking an unwritten rule in claiming Lampkin while he is injured. Apparently, they think it is normal for other teams to ignore talent and let a guy pass through waivers to return to the practice squad of his original team. Now seeing that Rams fans are extremely butthurt over this, we all kicked into gear and found out exactly how good Lampkin might be. Savagely, Eagles fans are piling on the Rams for not only being dumb, but for being crybabies who also voted against the Tush Push. Nothing gets Philly fans educated and entrenched on a topic faster than someone else’s emotions.1
Who is Willie Lampkin?
If you missed any of this, let me catch you up. Lampkin went undrafted out of UNC after starting his collegiate career at Coastal Carolina. Yes, he was one of the guys blocking for 1st round running back Omarion Hampton. Despite playing Center and Guard, he is only 5’11” tall and around 280 pounds. At that size he was still able to nab First-Team All-America honors and was named the best blocker in the ACC. He didn’t go to the Combine, but I have his Pro-Day numbers here. Despite the accolades, he went undrafted.
The Rams signed him to a 3/$3m non-guaranteed entry level contract with a $30k signing bonus. Early in preseason he was rated by PFF as the top rookie offensive lineman and looked like a total steal in LA. He absolutely was going to make the Rams final roster despite being one of the smallest offensive linemen in NFL history.
As for Lampkin the person, he has been through a lot and come out better on the other side. Read more about him here. He was also a high school wrestler who went 47-0 as a senior to become state champion. You have to think that kind of background has helped him as an offensive lineman.
Unwritten Rule
Unfortunately for the Rams, he hurt his knee and ankle recently. In theory, this would make his 53-man roster spot fungible. The injury designation explanation is a little complicated but I will give it a shot. Had they just released him, he would have been a free agent and able to sign with any team immediately. Conversely, they could have just given him a roster spot. Instead, by waiving him with an injury distinction it allows the player to keep his contract intact temporarily. If he clears waivers, the original team can then come to an injury settlement that will pay the player for the time he is expected to miss before being released and theoretically joining the practice squad. This gambit allows the team to use a roster spot on a player who can contribute now rather than have to either waste that roster spot on the inactive injured player or place them on injured reserve with a return designation of which there are limited spots after giving him an initial 53 man spot. Because he is not a vested veteran, they cannot put him on IR before he makes the final roster. The Rams didn’t want to do that. They rationalized that no one would want to take on the full contract of an inactive player. It didn’t work. The Eagles claimed his contract.
Basically, the Rams were trying to get cute and it didn’t work. A few talking heads and every Rams fan believes that the Eagles and our fantastic GM did something nefarious here. Just because something like this doesn’t happen regularly, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. This is because most teams aren’t dumb enough to try to sneak a real talent through waivers. Usually, an undrafted rookie isn’t good enough to justify their roster spot while they are injured. Lampkin is obviously the exception. Undrafted rookie Darius Cooper made the Eagles this year. Do you think if we tried to sneak him through waivers he would have gone unclaimed? No way.
Though there is no real difference between an unwritten rule and something that is just uncommon, the real problem here is the expectation of respect and friendliness from Rams fans. This is a business. You do a business deal because it is good for your business, not to make friends. Speaking of which, Rams fans are aware that their team attempted to change league rules to make the Eagles’ offense (which ran all over them twice last year, btw) worse, right? Where is the expectation of respect there? There was none because the Rams thought that being complainers was good for their business. We can hate them for it, but they did what they thought they needed to do.
Also, draft nuts out there might remember a former Eagles 6th round draft pick named Dylan McMahon. The Eagles tried to take him onto their practice squad last year, but he was snapped up by the Rams instead. McMahon is a very athletic but undersized center as well who would have been very helpful as a backup last year, especially in the playoffs. It stinks that the Rams signed him, but it was also perfectly fair.
What’s Next
Lampkin’s knee injury is not expected to be serious or else the Rams would have kept him and put him on IR. So, now the Eagles must keep him on the roster so he doesn’t get plucked by another team. To do this and open a roster spot, the Eagles released Trevor Keegan. That stinks, but they must really think that the combination of Lampkin’s ability and Jeff Stoutland’s tutelage is too good to pass up. Lampkin will instantly become a fan favorite in Philly because of this nonsense.
It should be noted that the Eagles have the 32nd out of 32 positions on the waiver wire. This means that 30 other teams passed on Lampkin.2 Should this make Rams fans feel worse? I hope so.
- It is a little different, but I always think about the first 24 hours with Gritty. We hated him. He was embarrassing. Then the rest of the country started to make fun of OUR mascot. HOW DARE THEY!!! From then on he was ours and we love him. ↩︎
- Hat tip to @Johnmlatimer.bsky.social obviously in a footnote ↩︎
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