The purpose of the NFL preseason is to sort out the starters from the backups, practice squad players, and roster cuts. However, the Week 1 roster is rarely the roster that a NFL team finishes with at the end of the season. Whether it be injuries or a player playing himself out of a job, backups can be called upon at a moment’s notice. Look at the St. Louis Rams: they had visions of Sam Bradford having a bounce back season, after an ACL tear ended his 2013 campaign. Unfortunately for the Rams and Bradford, he re-tore the same ACL during the preseason.
Shaun Hill
Now Shaun Hill will lead the Rams onto the field during Week 1, his first dose of extended NFL regular season action since he stepped in for an injured Matt Stafford in 2010 for the Detroit Lions. It will be his second time starting Week 1, which he did for the first time back in 2009 for the San Francisco 49ers. Expectations were already pretty low for the Rams, who are in a stacked NFC West division, and things only got worse when Bradford went down again. However, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher is confident that Hill can get the ball where it needs to be for the receivers to make plays.
Shaun Hill is one example of a backup already being called upon to step in for a starter. There are several players on other teams waiting on the bench for their chance to become the number one guy for their team. Over the next few slides, I will take a look at several other backups you should keep an eye on this season.