Cut by the Bills, defensive tackle Kellen Heard could start Sunday for the Rams in Detroit.

The 6-foot-6, 346-pounder fell victim to a numbers game in Buffalo, but was a clear upgrade over the Rams' other options after first-round pick Michael Brockers suffered a high ankle sprain.

Heard played in 15 games last season, posting 21 tackles and two sacks. The Rams grabbed him with their No. 2 spot on the waiver claim list.

"This is a great opportunity for me," Heard told the Post-Dispatch. "I feel right at home. As far as the football team, my teammates, they embraced me right in."

St. Louis drafted Brockers 14th overall mainly to shore up the run defense, which ranked 31st in yards allowed (152.1) and 27th in yards per carry (4.8).

Heard, who knows D-line coach Mike Waufle from their time together in Oakland in 2010, specializes against the run. 

"I'm more of a powerful dude, more of a run stopper," he told the paper.

Brockers got hurt in the final preseason game and could be out of a month. The Rams were already thin at the position, with rookie Matt Conrath dealing with an undisclosed injury and Darell Scott recovering from a knee scope. 

So Heard could line up alongside Kendall Langford as a starter.

Expansion team? Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz, the leading authority on St. Louis sports, noted that the Rams had 16 rookies on their roster as of Monday morning. It looks like an expansion team, and that doesn't bug Miklasz.

"This disaster wasn't going to be cleaned up in a year, or after one offseason," he wrote. "I'd rather see the new bosses start fresh, start over, and cultivate a roster that can grow."

The Rams have the youngest roster in the league.

Flurry of moves: GM Les Snead and coach Jeff Fisher have made it clear they will continue to make moves in an effort to upgrade the roster. 

Since the roster was trimmed to 53 on Friday, the Rams cut corner Jerome Murphy, tight end Michael Hoomanawanui and offensive lineman Quinn Ojinnaka, and traded Greg Salas. 

The team added Heard, running back Terrance Ganaway, guard Shelley Smith and tackle Ty Nsekhe.

“We’re going to continue to upgrade this roster if we see fit and if we should see an opportunity that presents itself,” Fisher said. “(If) a player comes up that’s available or a team’s interested in making a trade and we feel like it makes us better then we’re going to go ahead and do so. You like to stand up and say, ‘Hey, this is the group we’re going with,’ but that’s not the case and it’s not a threatening issue or anything else. It’s just our jobs to get better. The players’ job is to improve. It’s our jobs to improve this organization.”

Get more Rams updates and analysis from Larry Hartstein @CBSSportsNFLSTL.