Sean McVay shared some good news and some bad news during his press conference on Thursday. He opened the media session by saying Troy Hill has been ruled out for Saturday’s game against the 49ers, but Gerald Everett is set to return after missing three straight games with a knee injury.
Hill underwent surgery on his broken thumb this week but the Rams were cautiously optimistic he’d be able to play with a cast on his hand. They’re opting to play it safe and will keep him off the field this weekend.
“Surgery went well, he’s feeling good. But we felt like the best thing for him and as we move forward was gonna be to keep him out this week,” McVay said.
Darious Williams filled in for Hill last week against Dallas, playing all but the two snaps Hill missed. He stepped up in a big way and limited the production of the Cowboys’ receivers, so the Rams have plenty of confidence in him for this game.
As for Greg Zuerlein, who has a quad strain, his status remains uncertain. Listed as questionable, he’s going to kick for the first time on Friday in an attempt to determine whether he can play.
“Greg is making good progress,” McVay said. “We’ll kick him tomorrow, see how he’s feeling. Have some guys coming in for a workout – really have one guy coming in for a workout. We keep those things in-house, so we’ll keep consistent with our normal standard operating procedures with that.”
McVay made it clear that Zuerlein is feeling good and he doesn’t anticipate him not being able to play, but the Rams are exercising caution with their kicker. They worked out Brett Maher on Thursday as a backup plan if Zuerlein can’t play.
One player not on the injury report is Rob Havenstein, who hasn’t played since Week 10 due to a knee injury. He was a full participant in practice for the second week in a row, and he doesn’t carry any status designation this week unlike last week when he was doubtful.