The hits just keep on coming for the Los Angeles Rams right before the regular season is slated to begin. They already lost projected starter Travin Howard for the year due to a torn meniscus, and now Terrell Lewis will be out for a while, too.
The Rams have placed Lewis on the reserve/non-football injury list, sidelining him for at least six weeks. This continues a troubling trend of his inability to stay healthy, dating back to Alabama. The rookie outside linebacker was limited to only 14 games in college due to injury, missing time with a torn ligament in his elbow, as well as a torn ACL.
Lewis was projected to be a rotational pass rusher, getting some work with the first-team defense. He’s behind Leonard Floyd and Samson Ebukam on the depth chart, but Brandon Staley likes to rotate his edge rushers, so Lewis likely would’ve gotten some playing time.
On the bright side, McVay said it was as positive news as the Rams could’ve gotten on Lewis, and that they feared he had an infection from previous surgeries – which he doesn’t.
“It’s as positive as it could be, given the circumstances,” Sean McVay says. Lewis will be out 6 weeks or so.
— Greg Beacham (@gregbeacham) September 9, 2020
With the reserve/NFI list, which A’Shawn Robinson is also on, Lewis won’t be eligible to return to practice or games for at least six weeks. And now that Lewis going on NFI, it opened up a roster spot for Raymond Calais, who the Rams signed off the Buccaneers’ practice squad. They also signed J.R. Reed, who was not with them in camp, to their practice squad.
#LARams transactions:
* Placed OLB Terrell Lewis on Reserve/NFI list
* Signed RB Raymond Calais to 53-man roster
* Signed DB J.R. Reed to practice squad— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) September 9, 2020
It’s interesting that the Rams opted to place Lewis on the non-football injury list, rather than injured reserve. Had he been placed on IR, he would’ve missed at least three weeks, rather than six. McVay indicated this was a unique situation which the Rams had never seen before, and clearly it wasn’t related to football.
In Lewis’ place, Jachai Polite and Justin Hollins could get increased opportunities.