For the fifth week in a row, the Los Angeles Rams will be without their starting center Brian Allen. Sean McVay told reporters on Wednesday that Allen will be out for Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers.
He suffered a knee injury in Week 1 and was originally expected to miss 2-4 weeks, but that timeline has unfortunately been stretched to at least five weeks. McVay didn’t say when Allen will return, but the Rams have a bye in Week 7, so the earliest he can be back is Week 8 against the 49ers on Oct. 30.
Had the Rams known he would’ve missed more than four games, they probably would’ve preferred to put him on injured reserve, thus opening up a roster spot. But there’s no sense in doing that now unless Allen is expected to miss another four games, which would be an even bigger problem.
With Coleman Shelton on injured reserve, the Rams will be on their third-string center again. That could be Jeremiah Kolone, or they could give veteran Matt Skura his first opportunity of the season after promoting him to the active roster.
The Rams need to figure something out because the current state of the offensive line is not good.
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