{"id":851954,"date":"2026-04-03T21:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851954\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T21:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:00:25","slug":"3-players-who-need-strong-showings-at-rams-otas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851954\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Players Who Need Strong Showings at Rams OTAs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">WOODLAND HILLS, Ca. The Los Angeles Rams have announced their offseason schedule, and while OTAs or offseason training activities are not typically a period used for evaluation, it can often set up big-time showings in training camp.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">These three players are fighting for their futures and need a strong OTAs to springboard them into productive roles come fall.<\/p>\n<p>1. Emmanuel Forbes<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">Forbes had a strong showing in OTAs last year, which led to a stronger showing in training camp that would help his career rebound. Forbes had himself a year last season and while he is entering his fourth campaign, I&#8217;ll make the argument that this is his third true NFL season.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01knab65emwwpev88m47.jpg\" alt=\"Emmanuel Forbes \" title=\"Emmanuel Forbes \" width=\"1944\" height=\"1093\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6z\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jan 10, 2026; Charlotte, NC, USA; Los Angeles Rams cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. (1) reacts after the game against the Carolina Panthers in the NFC Wild Card Round game at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"73\">He had a tough rookie campaign, which was hampered by the dysfunction of the franchise, dysfunction that allowed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/rams\/onsi\/los-angeles-2026-offseason-will-have-to-recover-from-2025-oversight\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rams<\/a> to snag Kam Curl on a steal. Forbes had a lot going for him then but his environment has changed. His most vocal supporter in Aubrey Pleasant is gone, the Rams signed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/rams\/onsi\/trent-mcduffie-gives-los-angeles-edge-needed-win-super-bowl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Trent McDuffie<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/rams\/onsi\/los-angeles-signing-jaylen-watson-puts-writing-wall-this-veteran\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jaylen Watson<\/a> to mega-deals ensuring that they&#8217;re the starters, and it&#8217;s unknown if the Rams will continue with their three-man rotation.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">This is where Forbes needs to prove what he&#8217;s about in order to force the rotation and to get on the field. Since this is essentially his third season, after his second season was a disaster, where Forbes was caught up in a regime change, he could be on the verge of a third-year breakthrough. Not bad for a guy whose first two years in the NFL were ruined.<\/p>\n<p>2. Konata Mumpfield<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7c\">Mumpfield has a similar course to Forbes, eventually becoming the team&#8217;s WR3. The problem is that Mumpfield wasn&#8217;t able to do enough to secure the position with the limited targets he got. This is a new year and I watched him dominate when he was allowed to play free.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01knabf689y8e4scmrgw.jpg\" alt=\"Konata Mumpfield \" title=\"Konata Mumpfield \" width=\"4760\" height=\"2677\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7m\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Dec 7, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Konata Mumpfield (15) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7q\">With a deeper understanding of the playbook, I expect the freedom and the production to return. Despite that, the position is up for grabs, and while Mumpfield has the easiest path to securing the role, he still has to go get the job done.<\/p>\n<p>3. Jarquez Hunter<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7w\">Hunter had zero carries in 2025 and was unable to establish himself on Special Teams as a rookie. The Rams already re-signed Ronnie Rivers for the Special Teams unit, while Kyren Williams and Blake Corum return so that they can be the team&#8217;s 1-2 punch.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01knabp09yjmdft6rwe2.jpg\" alt=\"Jarquez Hunter \" title=\"Jarquez Hunter \" width=\"8001\" height=\"4500\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"86\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Aug 16, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Rams running back Jarquez Hunter (35) enters the field against the Los Angeles Chargers in the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8a\">Where does that leave Hunter? What role could he have? It seems like a situation that Hunter will need to force the Rams to play him by simply dominating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WOODLAND HILLS, Ca. The Los Angeles Rams have announced their offseason schedule, and while OTAs or offseason training&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[7,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-851954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-los-angeles","10":"tag-los-angeles-rams","11":"tag-losangeles","12":"tag-losangelesrams","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-rams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116342794552377896","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}