Tag: rams covid

Rams place Michael Brockers on reserve/COVID-19 list

Michael Brockers has joined Cooper Kupp on the reserve/COVID-19 list ahead of Sunday’s finale.

Cooper Kupp isn’t the only Rams starter to be placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list this week. The team announced Thursday that it has also added Michael Brockers to the reserve list ahead of Sunday’s game against the Cardinals.

This does not mean Brockers tested positive for COVID-19, or that he’s been ruled out for Week 17. Teams aren’t required to reveal a player’s reason for being placed on COVID-19 reserve.

However, if Brockers did test positive, as Kupp reportedly did, he will be forced to miss at least 10 days, which would include the season finale against the Cardinals. If he’s designated a high-risk contact to someone who has tested positive, he’ll remain on the list for five days, also ruling him out for Sunday.

If Brockers is deemed a regular close contact, he can be activated off the list at any time as long as he continues to test negative.

This season, Brockers has played and started all 15 games for the Rams. He’s made 51 tackles and recorded five sacks, putting together one of the best seasons of his career. His five sacks are second-most in a season, and his 10 QB hits tie a career-best, as well.

If the Rams are forced to play Sunday without Brockers, expect to see Morgan Fox and A’Shawn Robinson get more playing time in his absence.

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Rams’ strategic locker room design worked perfectly amid COVID-19 concerns

The Rams arranged their locker room to avoid possible outbreaks in a single position group.

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When it was decided that the NFL season would move forward as planned, the Los Angeles Rams took a proactive approach. They rearranged their headquarters at Cal Lutheran to make things run as smoothly as possible, putting up a huge tent in the parking lot for meetings and tweaking the structure of the locker room.

Rather than keeping the status quo and grouping players at the same position together, the Rams made strategic changes. They separated the quarterbacks, spread out the running backs, and used that approach across all position groups.

The reasoning? So if one player contracted the coronavirus, it would prevent it from spreading throughout the rest of the position group. This past week, the Rams were forced to place Nick Scott and Bobby Evans on the reserve/COVID-19 list and have three players questionable due to contact tracing, but it could’ve been much worse.

Had the safeties all been together in the locker room, it could’ve spread throughout the position group.

“It’s part of it’s all by design, the way we have the locker room situated is so that everybody in the same position (group), because the locker room is the biggest risk area and that’s where those interactions occurred based on the information, the interviews, and the Kinexon data that we compiled,” McVay said last week. “You don’t want to have anybody affected, that’s the ideal situation, but what I think would be a worst-case scenario is when you have all of the same position group in one area and then one of them gets it and then you get that whole group wiped out. So that was partly by design. You want to not have anybody, but that was not surprising based on how we’ve kind of tried to strategically tried to approach this thing.”

The Rams have done as good a job during this pandemic as any team, losing no key starters to the reserve/COVID-19 list for a game this season. The work obviously isn’t done, but considering how well the Rams have handled this for 14 weeks, it’s reasonable to expect this to continue.

With the postseason coming up, McVay said there was a thought about a team bubble, but he doesn’t want to take players away from their families and wants to keep things as normal as possible.

“I think there’s certainly a thought. But then to be able to activate a plan like that, I think it is really important, the mental health of it, enabling players to still be able to feel like, all right, how much normalcy in a very non-normal time can we have them still go home and be with their families and come back?” he said. “I think they’re making good decisions. When you really learn about some of the instances and incidents that we’ve had, it’s not because our guys aren’t doing good things, making sound decisions off the field, and trust our players. I trust what they’re doing, I trust our group. I think we want to try to keep it as normal as possible, while not being naive to the fact that this is a volatile thing. I certainly have had my eyes open to that within the last couple of days, especially.”

Managing this season has been a difficult task for all 32 teams, but the Rams have done an excellent job thanks to the noticeable changes they’ve made throughout the year – the locker room arrangement included.

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Rams promote Jake Gervase from practice squad as COVID-19 replacement

The Rams will be without Nick Scott on Sunday, so they called up Jake Gervase as a replacement.

The Los Angeles Rams are dealing with some COVID-19 trouble this week ahead of Sunday’s game against the New York Jets, losing Nick Scott and Bobby Evans for Week 15. They were placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list Friday and will miss the game, which opened the door for the Rams to promote a player from the practice squad as a replacement.

The team called up Jake Gervase to the active roster for Sunday against New York with Scott, the No. 3 safety, ruled out.

Gervase is a former undrafted free agent and appeared in two games for the Rams last year, playing 13 total defensive snaps.

Sean McVay said rookie JuJu Hughes will get increased reps against the Jets with Scott out, but Gervase could also get a chance to play.

Rams hold 5 players out of practice due to positive COVID-19 test, contact tracing

The Rams are working with the NFL to handle the situation in Week 15.

The Los Angeles Rams held their second practice of the week on Thursday but five players were held out for COVID-19 reasons. Sean McVay said the team got a positive test back and as a result, five players did not participate in practice due to contact tracing.

McVay didn’t say who tested positive and no transactions have been made as far as placing someone on the reserve/COVID-19 list, but the Rams are working with the NFL to get the situation under control.

The five players who were held out of practice as a precaution were Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, Justin Hollins, Bobby Evans, Brian Allen and Nick Scott.

McVay said he expects some clarity on the situation in the next 24 hours, as there’s a chance it was simply a false positive. But for the time being, the Rams are going to play it safe.

Elsewhere on the injury report, Robert Woods returned to practice as a limited participant due to a thigh injury. McVay said he’s “feeling better” and doesn’t expect to miss Sunday’s game against the Jets.

Nsimba Webster also returned after missing Wednesday due to personal reasons. Everyone else was a full participant.

Rams practice squad TE Kendall Blanton lands on reserve/COVID-19 list for 2nd time

Kendall Blanton is currently a member of the Rams’ practice squad.

Just two days after announcing that they placed Jachai Polite on the reserve/COVID-19 list, the Los Angeles Rams have added another practice squad player to the list. The Rams placed tight end Kendall Blanton on reserve/COVID-19 Monday, marking his second stint on the list.

Blanton was on the list for a few days in November but was then activated and returned to the practice squad. This does not mean Blanton tested positive for COVID-19, as he could just be a close contact of someone who has.

The Rams have done well to manage this difficult situation amid the pandemic, avoiding any outbreaks and only having isolated cases during the season.

They have not been together as a team since Thursday when they hosted the Patriots at SoFi Stadium, but are set to resume practicing for Week 15 on Wednesday.

Report: NFL has talked to Rams about potentially playing home games outside California

The 49ers will play their next two home games in Arizona, and the Rams could be next to leave California for the rest of the season.

The San Francisco 49ers have been forced to play their next two home games in Arizona due to restrictions put in place in Santa Clara, where Levi’s Stadium is located. It’s the latest adjustment that’s been made in the NFL this season amidst the pandemic, and it certainly won’t be the last.

The Rams and Chargers could be the next teams to move out of California if the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on and lead to more restrictions.

According to Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports!, the NFL has spoken to both teams about potentially playing the rest of the season outside of California, discussing “safeguarding against a forced move to alternative playing sites in the coming weeks,” Robinson reported.

According to Robinson’s sources, steps are being taken in the event that this happens, with the Rams and Chargers working through the logistics of other practice areas and stadiums outside California. The teams are both both “eyeing backup plans that could include the use of another NFL facility in neighboring states.”

This likely comes in wake of the latest level of restrictions announced by California Governor Gavin Newsom, which would limit travel and other events further if the infection rate and hospitalizations increase.

Sean McVay was asked Thursday about the implications of these stay-at-home orders, but he’s not aware of any changes that need to be made by the Rams as of now.

“Have not, no. Haven’t heard anything of that nature,” he said. “I think you would probably know as soon as I do if anything was affected. But we know we’re focused on the Cardinals and don’t anticipate that to be an issue with next week’s game, if that’s what you’re alluding to as well.”

Rams place 3 players on reserve/COVID-19 list

All three players are on the practice squad.

After announcing late Tuesday night that an unnamed player tested positive for COVID-19, the Los Angeles Rams placed three players on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

They are tight end Kendall Blanton, safety Jake Gervase and wide receiver J.J. Koski. They’re all currently on the practice squad.

While being placed on the list doesn’t necessarily mean a player has tested positive, in this case, at least one of them has. The NFL requires teams to place anyone who has come in close contact with a person who has tested positive on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

This is the first time a Rams player has been placed on the list since the start of the season and is just the fourth reported case on the team since the pandemic began.

Brian Allen, Terrell Lewis and Andrew Whitworth all revealed earlier this year that they tested positive for COVID-19, and in Whitworth’s case, so too did his entire family.

The Rams play on Monday night in Week 11, traveling to take on the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay.