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Los Angeles Rams News & Rumors

AFC Notes: Patrick, Lambo, Bush

December 4th, 2022 at 1:51pm CST by Adam La Rose

One of many injuries the Broncos have had to deal with in 2022 is the ACL tear suffered by linebacker Aaron Patrick during an October Monday Night Football game against the Chargers. That came as a result of a collision between the special teamer and a member of an ESPN TV crew member, and has now led to legal action being taken.

Patrick is suing a long list of individuals and entities which includes the NFL, ESPN, the Rams and Chargers, the owners and operators of SoFi Stadium, and the crew worker he collided with. As detailed by Mike Klis of 9News, the 25-year-old is seeking unlimited civil damages and is aiming for a jury trial. Patrick, a former UDFA, lost between $200K and $400K in 2022 pay according to his attorneys, and some of his 2023 salary ($940K) could be at risk depending on the success of his rehab.

As the filing claims, Patrick’s injury came about due to the location of not only the crew member, but the mats in place to cover TV cables near the sideline. That has resulted in the long list of defendants, though none of them initially commented on the situation, per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.

Here are some other AFC notes, including another legal update:

  • The Jaguars endured a disastrous 2021 campaign under head coach Urban Meyer, a short-lived spell which included an alleged kicking incident with then-kicker Josh Lambo. The latter sued the team this past May regarding the work environment in Jacksonville under Meyer, but that suit has been tossed out of court (Twitter link via Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic). As Kaplan notes, though, the judge overseeing the case has given Lambo the opportunity to re-file the suit.
  • Devin Bush was a talking point throughout the offseason for the Steelers, since the team’s decision to decline his fifth-year option puts him in line for free agency in March. That has led to an expectation the former first-round linebacker will depart in 2023, though he has remained a full-time starter this season. An improvement in play this year – during which the Michigan product has totaled 62 tackles and played every defensive snap last week – can be attributed to Pittsburgh’s new LBs coach, Brian Flores, per The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly (subscription required). In spite of that, however, Kaboly still predicts that Bush will receive no more than a cursory contract offer from the Steelers and ultimately head elsewhere during the spring.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/3/22

December 3rd, 2022 at 7:49pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are the league’s minor transactions leading into the Sunday-slate of Week 13 games:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Matthew Stafford Placed On IR; Rams To Start John Wolford

December 3rd, 2022 at 1:55pm CST by Sam Robinson

DECEMBER 3: Casting further doubt on Stafford’s 2022 return, the Rams announced on Saturday that their starter has been placed on IR. That will leave him sidelined until at least Week 17, by which point the defending champions will likely have been eliminated from postseason contention. With the open roster spot, the Rams have activated rookie linebacker Daniel Hardy from IR.

DECEMBER 2: Matthew Stafford is out of concussion protocol, but the Super Bowl-winning quarterback is not returning to the Rams’ lineup just yet. After Sean McVay said earlier this week it was unlikely Stafford played in Week 13, the Rams are sticking to those guns.

Stafford will sit for a second straight week and third time in four games. Rather than Bryce Perkins, who started in Week 12 against the Chiefs, the Rams will go with John Wolford against the Seahawks. Neck pain and leg numbness led Stafford into the protocol for the second time this season.

Rams caution with Stafford does not surprise. The sides agreed to a four-year, $160MM extension this offseason, and a shell of an offensive line has contributed to the defending Super Bowl champions’ slide. The Rams are 3-8 and making a run at finishing with the worst record by a defending Super Bowl champion — in a non-strike season — in NFL history. The prospect of Stafford, Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp being shut down for the season remains in play.

Stafford, 34, has taken almost as many sacks in nine games this season (29) as he did during 17 games last year (30). A Rams line that has seen first- and second-stringers go down, with injuries ransacking the unit at every position save for right tackle, has contributed to a few of the team’s problems. L.A. ranks 31st in rushing yards, and were Stafford to come back, he would also be without his two highest-profile receivers. It does not look like Kupp will return from ankle surgery this season, and Allen Robinson‘s disappointing Rams debut is already over due to a foot injury.

Thus, a backup-laden offense will be in the hands of a backup quarterback. It is uncertain if it will stay that way through January, but Wolford is back in the mix for now. A one-time unlikely playoff starter, Wolford has two career regular-season starts. The Rams lost his 2022 start — in Week 10 against the Cardinals — but saw their longtime backup suffer a neck injury as well, leading to Perkins. A 2020 UDFA, Perkins finished with 100 passing yards and two interceptions in the Rams’ loss in Kansas City.

Coming into this season, Stafford had only missed time in one of his previous 12 campaigns. A back injury shut him down in 2019. The former No. 1 overall pick has played through numerous issues during his career, but the Rams have him in limbo for the time being.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/30/22

November 30th, 2022 at 5:39pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

  • Signed: WR Shemar Bridges

Denver Broncos

Los Angeles Rams

  • Signed: WR Jaquarii Roberson

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/30/22

November 30th, 2022 at 5:33pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor NFL transactions:

Atlanta Falcons

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

Tennessee Titans

Rams Considering Shutting Down Aaron Donald, Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp

November 30th, 2022 at 1:49pm CST by Sam Robinson

NOVEMBER 30: Week 13 will double as Donald’s first missed NFL game due to injury. The Rams ruled out the seven-time All-Pro defensive tackle for their Seahawks matchup. McVay also confirmed Stafford remains in concussion protocol and is unlikely to play against Seattle.

NOVEMBER 29: Aaron Donald can now be added to the list of high-profile Rams to have suffered significant injuries this season. Sean McVay said the team’s medical staff communicated to him the perennial All-Pro defensive lineman likely sustained a high ankle sprain against the Chiefs, Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic tweets.

Considering this immense letdown of a season, Donald is not a lock to return this year. McVay said the team has not ruled out shutting down Donald, Cooper Kupp or Matthew Stafford. The defending Super Bowl champions gave new deals to all three players this offseason, and while the team will not exactly be obtaining value from those lucrative accords by sidelining the cornerstone performers, ensuring these health issues do not bleed into the offseason would stand to be important.

Although Kupp and Stafford have missed stretches of seasons before, Donald has been one of the league’s most durable players. The seven-time All-Pro has never missed a game due to injury; his only absences (two) came because of a 2017 holdout. Over the course of his second Rams contract, Donald became one of the greatest defenders in NFL history. He derailed the Bengals’ final drive in Super Bowl LVI and may well have won MVP acclaim were ballots not required to be turned in before that drive.

Donald, 31, threatened retirement and sent the Rams a letter — amid contract negotiations — informing them of his intentions to walk away. The Rams came back to the table with an unprecedented offer — a straight raise with no new years added, making Donald the NFL’s highest-paid defender again. Donald’s $31.6MM-per-year average dwarfs the rest of the D-tackle market; no other interior D-lineman makes more than $21MM per annum. That deal has not started off well for the Rams, who have seen their run of good health in recent years deteriorate into a mess that has this team on course to be the worst defending Super Bowl champion in league history.

Donald’s third Rams pact runs through 2024; he is set to count $26MM against Los Angeles’ cap next year. That money is guaranteed, though Donald’s 2024 cash is not. This season, Donald’s production has dipped a bit. The ninth-year defender has five sacks and 11 quarterback hits. While he still would have had time to move toward his seventh double-digit sack season, this injury will probably nix such an effort.

Kupp underwent ankle surgery and is expected to miss at least the next four games. Considering that timetable and the Rams’ 3-8 record, it seems unlikely the All-Pro wideout will play again this year. Stafford has spent the past two weeks in concussion protocol, with a neck issue leading him back there after he left the Rams’ Week 11 loss to the Saints early. Conflicting reports surfaced about Stafford returning this season, but the Rams are unsurprisingly considering punting on the rest of the veteran quarterback’s 14th season and regrouping in 2023. Stafford’s new deal runs through 2026.

The Rams squandered key seasons from their well-paid trio. Donald will turn 32 in May; Stafford will be 35 in February. Kupp is younger, but he will hit 30 in June. The team, which also placed Allen Robinson on IR on Tuesday because of a season-ending foot injury, may see its skeleton crew thin further in the weeks ahead. Although the 1982 49ers finished 3-6, a strike-shortened season impacted their first title defense. No defending Super Bowl champion has finished with fewer than six wins in a non-strike-shortened campaign; if the Rams are to be without Donald and Stafford the rest of the way, they might have a hard time making it to 6-11. The Lions hold the Rams’ 2023 first-round pick.

Rams WR Allen Robinson To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery

November 27th, 2022 at 6:44pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Rams have been ravaged by injuries this offseason, and their pass-catching corps will be thinner to close out the disappointing 2022 campaign. Head coach Sean McVay said that wideout Allen Robinson will undergo surgery to repair a foot injury, and will miss the remainder of the season as a result.

Robinson suffered the injury on Friday. Providing further detail on the matter, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports that Robinson is dealing with a stress fracture, and the procedure will involve placing a screw in his foot (Twitter link). This news marks another significant blow to a Rams WR group which has been underwhelming this season and been hampered by injuries.

The most noteworthy of those, of course, is the high ankle sprain suffered by Cooper Kupp earlier in the month which has landed him on IR and forced him to undergo surgery of his own. He had established himself as the only consistent contributor for the Rams’ 19th-ranked passing attack. Kupp’s absence opened the door to a larger role for Robinson, but the latter failed to eclipse five catches or 63 yards in a game this season, his first in Los Angeles. His campaign will end with a 33-339-3 statline.

A one-time Pro Bowler, Robinson signed a three-year deal in March to operate as the Rams’ new compliment to Kupp, the role previously occupied by Robert Woods (and, briefly, Odell Beckham Jr). The fact that Robinson would have an accomplished quarterback to work with in Matthew Stafford led to significant optimism for a career-year, but nothing has gone according to plan offensively for the defending champions. Several injuries along the offensive line, ongoing drama with presumed lead running back Cam Akers and, now, multiple concussions suffered by Stafford have all set the unit back. The latter’s availability for the remainder of the season has been called into question, in no small part due to the team’s poor record.

With Robinson out until 2023, and Kupp unlikely to recover in time unless the 3-8 Rams qualify for the postseason, the team will now look to a number of unproven options at wideout. The unit will likely be led by Van Jefferson, who himself missed the first seven weeks of the season due to a knee injury. Other pass-catching options include Ben Skowronek, Tutu Atwell and Lance McCutcheon.

This news means 2022 will be the second consecutive season in which Robinson is unable to play a full season, as he was limited to 12 contests in his final Chicago campaign. He, and, in all likelihood, the Rams, will turn their attention to next year as this season winds down.

Latest On Rams QB Matthew Stafford

November 27th, 2022 at 4:12pm CST by Ely Allen

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is missing his second game of the season today in concussion protocol. With the Rams at 3-7 coming into today with seven games left in the season, there are some questions on how to handle the 34-year-old’s health for the rest of the year.

Stafford’s first missed game due to a concussion a couple weeks ago was the result of Stafford self-reporting symptoms following the team’s Week 9 loss to the Buccaneers. He was placed in concussion protocols and sat out the division contest against the Cardinals the next week.

This time, Stafford was experiencing what are called crossover symptoms that could seem like a concussion but may not be. In the team’s recent loss to the Saints last weekend, Stafford was pulled from the game when he experienced a stinger to his neck. He began to feel numbness in his legs, which can be a sign of head or neck injury, and since the Rams were not able to rule out a concussion during the game, Stafford was held out and placed in concussion protocol.

Looking at the Rams’ plans for the remainder of the season, we begin to get conflicting reports. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network claims that multiple sources have said “there are no current plans to shut down Stafford for the remainder of the season.” In another report, the Rams reportedly “are uncertain when or if (Stafford) will return this season,” according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Rapoport claims that, despite the team’s record, Los Angeles hopes to return Stafford to the field when he’s cleared in order to perhaps make a push for a wild card spot down the final stretch of the season. Schefter doesn’t rule out that possibility but emphasizes that, similar to the injury to wide receiver Cooper Kupp, the Rams “feel there is no need to rush back an injured player,” after losing four straight games and six of their last seven.

In the meantime, while they determine how to proceed, they are getting a look at their backup options. After John Wolford started during Stafford’s first absence, Bryce Perkins, who went undrafted out of Virginia in 2020, is currently playing in his first career start against the Chiefs today.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/26/22

November 26th, 2022 at 4:49pm CST by Ely Allen

The league’s minor moves and standard gameday elevations for Week 12:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Injury Updates: Williams, Toney, Robinson

November 25th, 2022 at 10:04pm CST by Ely Allen

Injuries continue to plague wide receiver Mike Williams and the Chargers this 2022 season. After making his way back from a three-week absence, during which he missed two games, Williams left the team’s loss to the Chiefs last week after only six offensive snaps. The setback that took him out early in last week’s game will now officially keep him out for another game as Los Angeles has ruled him out for this week’s matchup against the Cardinals.

In Williams’ absence, the team will likely go with the same wide receiver mixture they did when he left last week. Keenan Allen will lead the receiving corps alongside Josh Palmer and DeAndre Carter while also getting some reserve snaps from Michael Bandy.

It was originally expected that Williams would miss four games, after the initial diagnosis of his high ankle sprain. Counting last week as an absence, this week will be his fourth missed game, hopefully giving him the rest he needs to help the Chargers make a playoff push.

Here are a few other injury updates from around the league, starting with another injured wide receiver in the AFC West:

  • Second-year receiver Kadarius Toney has been ruled out for this week’s matchup against the Rams. Toney suffered a hamstring injury in the first half of the team’s win over the Chargers last week. The former first-round pick missed seven games over his rookie season with the Giants, missing five more games due to a Week 2 injury this season before his eventual trade to the Chiefs. This will be Toney’s first missed game as a Chief, a trend that Kansas City fans will hope ends here. The good news is that the team expects JuJu Smith-Schuster to return from a concussion that held him out of last week’s game. Smith-Schuster should start alongside Marquez Valdes-Scantling with Justin Watson and Skyy Moore providing off the bench.
  • Rams starting defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson will miss the rest of the season after suffering a torn meniscus, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. The stout run-defender had really found a home on the Rams’ line alongside Greg Gaines and Aaron Donald but Los Angeles will need to figure things out without him for the rest of the year. Marquise Copeland‘s name was called last week when Robinson left the game in New Orleans. Michael Hoecht is usually the next name off the bench while Bobby Brown III and Jonah Williams each rotate in for short periods, as well. Copeland is expected to take on Robinson’s role for the remainder of the season, though.
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