For the most part, the Rams have been one of the healthiest teams in the NFL since 2017. Sure, they’ve suffered their share of key injuries over the years, but not to the extent that many other teams have.
Things have been very different this season, and it’s only Week 3. Logan Bruss, Tremayne Anchrum Jr., Troy Hill, Daniel Hardy and Kyren Williams are among the players who have already landed on injured reserve for varying times.
Heading into Sunday’s game against the Cardinals, the outlook is even worse. Cobie Durant and David Long Jr. have been ruled out after suffering injuries in the last week. Brian Allen and Van Jefferson, though not on injured reserve, will miss another game on Sunday, too. Jordan Fuller is also questionable.
The Rams have made a ton of roster moves in response to these injuries (and a suspension), which has Sean McVay absolutely baffled. He can’t remember a time that the Rams have dealt with this much roster shuffling other than games when players missed due to COVID.
“I don’t know if we’ve ever quite experienced some of these injuries and situations – ever. And especially this early,” he said. “It almost feels like COVID-esque type of things. It’s never gonna be an excuse for us. We’ve got to have guys ready to go, ready to be able to step up. It doesn’t seem like too long ago where I was addressing the team before we played these guys Monday night and Reggie Scott comes in and says, ‘You’re losing two key, critical starters’ where we had already lost a handful of guys because they ended up popping a positive COVID. It feels similar to that situation with some of the things that have come up, none of which are an excuse for us not to be ready to go. But whether it’s Takk, whether it’s Kendall, Malcolm, and some of the DBs, there’s a lot of moving parts. I can’t remember a time other than when they had to move the game to Tuesday when we were playing Seattle that we’ve ever had this much going on. Especially before we’ve even played our third game. I mean, holy heck.”
That last sentence says it all.
The Rams will be down three of their top four cornerbacks, their starting center, their No. 3 receiver, their No. 2 tight end and their second-string right guard. That’s not ideal with a divisional opponent coming up.
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