HOW THE RAMS STACK UP : ANALYSIS : Filling in the Blanks is Top Priority

They used to be the rich guys, and now they’re the poor. They used to be welcome members of the NFL royal court, and now they’re just hoping to crash the party as unexpected guests.

They used to come into training camp swaggering like the Sheriff of Nottingham, and now they come in with the dark memories of 1990 to haunt them and a slew of changes to confuse them.

So Coach John Robinson and his merry band of rag-tag underdogs enter the thick days of training camp 1991 with a decidedly different crusade from those of recent years.

Now they’re the team with all the question marks and the blank spaces in the starting lineup and the 5-11 record to erase and the less-than-lofty goal of just competing for a playoff spot, not stomping to a Super Bowl.

Just go down the lineup as the Rams prepare for Wednesday’s opening of training camp at UC Irvine, and see the scrambling.

At no fewer than 10 positions do the Rams have very competitive situations, and that’s assuming there aren’t any long holdouts to further muddle the picture this summer--which is assuming a lot .

On defense, there are, at tops, three positions locked up--Jerry Gray at left cornerback, Pat Terrell at free safety and Kevin Greene at right defensive end. Gray is coming off an injury-wracked season, Terrell is a second-year player, and Greene is playing a new position on a new side of the field.

On offense, there still are jobs to be won on the offensive line, at tight end and at tailback.

The Rams hope to settle as much as they can this summer, which promises to be the busiest and grittiest in recent Ram history as a horde of young players fight for the jobs.

“To me, it’s interesting how many new players have a realistic chance to make this team,” Robinson said. “There’s a lot.

“Now, how many ultimately will make it, I don’t know. But you go down this list of players, there’s a lot that have a shot.”