Getty Sean McVay talks to Matthew Stafford on November 20, 2022 in New Orleans.
The Los Angeles Rams weren’t through with just adding Stetson Bennett in the quarterback room. One day after the 2023 NFL Draft, the franchise had room for one more passer.
They filled it on Sunday, April 30 through Dresser Winn of the University of Tennessee-Martin, who’s signed on as a undrafted free agent.
Congratulations to @UTM_Football quarterback Dresser Winn on signing an undrafted free agent contract with the Los Angeles Rams!
Release: t.co/pWGQIqJzFf
‘Improvisational’ QB Coming to ‘Rams House’
So what kind of traits does the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Winn bring inside the “Rams House” that makes him the third QB next to the draft pick Bennett and starter Matthew Stafford? For starters, Winn has a knack for improvising on the field.
“Shows improvisational ability to get the ball out,” was the first strength outlined by nfl.com draft expert Lance Zierlein.
The draft analyst added how Winn has the “Arm talent to deliver throws off-balance.”
He’s also in the top five in the UT-Martin record books. Winn, per the school, delivered the fifth most passing yards at 5,800, the fifth most total yardage with 5,964 and the fifth-best touchdowns in school history at 37.
There’s more. He has the second-most 300-yard passing days at UT-Martin with seven in his collegiate career.
The Football Championship Subdivision quarterback, however, was listed as a priority free agent by Zierlein and sure enough, Winn will get his start in the league as an undrafted prospect. Zierlein wrote in his complete overview:
“Winn has decent size, a quality arm and impressive touch when needed, but teams will not be excited by his career production. Despite facing loads of pressure, he was sacked just 27 times during his career, per PFF [Pro Football Focus]. He has improvisational arm talent to make the challenging completion from time to time. He’s a pocket passer with below-average escapability and needs to prove that he can perform more consistently from the pocket. Winn offers passing traits that could intrigue a team enough to give him a look as an undrafted free agent.”
Winn was a second team All-Ohio Valley Conference representative and was on the watch list for the 2022 Walter Payton Award — given annually to the best player in the FCS. He also spent the 2022 season as a graduate student.
Rams Head Coach Explains Roster Approach After Draft
Most NFL teams top off the roster at 90 players max, especially after the draft.
But not the Rams. After 14 draft picks and 21 total UDFA signings, the Rams still remain under 90 total. But the head coach of the Rams Sean McVay prefers it that way.
“We’re a much more competitive football team by the nature of these 14 players,” McVay said to reporters. “Our guys are doing a great job in the process of adding CFAs [conditional free agents] and for the 44 guys that we’ve had in-house right now, we’ll add to that and we’ll see if we’re close. I don’t think we’ll be anywhere close to 90, but you don’t have to be.”
McVay dove further into why he doesn’t believe in the number 90 for his complete roster.
“The way that you’re looking at it, we want to be able to get these guys reps where you can evaluate them and make sure that everybody that we’re onboarding, we feel like has a legitimate chance to make our football team more competitive and a real chance to make the roster,” McVay said.
“We’re a much more competitive football team by the nature of these 14 players.”
HC Sean McVay puts a cap on the 2023 #NFLDraft.