Colby Parkinson Camp Update — August 23: The Room's Buzz Went to Ferguson Again

The tight end who owned the Rams' week was not Colby Parkinson. In Thursday's joint practice against the Saints — the session where Matthew Stafford and the first-team offense took 45 competitive snaps, per Mykell Mathieu at The Sporting Tribune — second-year man Terrance Ferguson kept winning over the middle with Stafford throwing, per Stu Jackson and Zach Edwards at the team website, and Sean McVay's postscript was a rave: "He's so smart. He plays every single skill position except for halfback for us," per Blaine Grisak at Sports Illustrated. None of the week's attributable reporting, practice or game, charted Parkinson at all.

For a player in his situation, the reportable facts are these: he remains on the roster, no trade or release surfaced this window, and the competition above him keeps consolidating. Last week it was rookie Max Klare leading the team in targets in the preseason opener; this week it was Ferguson with the starters. Saturday's 34 to nothing win over the Saints was a backup exhibition at quarterback and defense — Stetson Bennett's night, per Grisak — and produced no tight end storyline in the recaps we can cite.

Back in June we framed Parkinson's franchise-record eight-touchdown season as an outlier scoring rate inside a five-deep room — Higbee, Davis Allen, Ferguson, Klare — with an expiring contract that made him a named cut-or-trade candidate. The squeeze that preview described came from two directions at once this week.

The roster itself is the watch item now. Cutdown to 53 is Sunday, August thirtieth; a release or trade ends this story, and survival past Sunday is a real data point in his favor. Before that, Thursday's finale against the Chargers is the last chance for a snap and target read on the five-man room. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._