Are Rams' Mounting Injuries Cause for Concern?

Valentina Martinez | Aug 5, 2024

Jul 31, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua (17) participates in drills during training camp at Loyola Marymount University. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports / Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

Injuries have hampered a myriad of the Los Angeles Rams starters including wide receiver Puka Nacua and three offensive linemen. The injuries are troublesome for the dynamics of the Rams' offense.

"Week-to-week" is an alarming phrase head coach Sean McVay has had to use quite often lately. Offensive lineman Jonah Jackson, Alaric Jackson, Rob Havenstein, and sophomore wideout Nacua are all considered "week-to-week."

The Rams were short the three offensive linemen in their joint practice with the Chargers on Sunday which allowed the Bolts' defense to force six turnovers.

Los Angeles spent millions in rebuilding their offensive line, and if players aren't healthy enough to make an impact on the field, then all the moves the Rams made in the offseason won't matter.

Alaric was one of the Rams' offseason acquisitions and his status was recently downgraded to "week-to-week."

"We want to be smart," McVay said regarding Alaric's return, via the team's transcript. "It was a weird deal where he kind of just rolled up his ankle. It's nothing that we expected to be long-term. It was day-to-day, now it's kind of week-to-week. But I thought he was having a great camp and I think the worst thing we could do is rush him back. In the meantime, we're going to learn about some guys and I mean it's a Rolodex of guys that are in there right now, even with that first group. And I think it's only going to force those guys to mature and accelerate their learning process."

Nacua suffered a knee injury on Sunday in the joint practice with the Chargers. The record-setting receiver is week to week and ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the injury was "not serious."

More injuries in LA: Rams standout WR Puka Nacua is now considered week to week after suffering a knee injury this weekend that one source described as “not serious.” pic.twitter.com/1VVwugcKDn

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 5, 2024

Nevertheless, the term 'week to week' is frightening to hear for an impact player like Nacua. In his rookie season, Nacua had 105 catches for 1,486 yards. His emergence was a pleasant surprise for Los Angeles as they drafted him as a fifth-round pick in last year's draft.

The timing of Nacua's success couldn't have been better since Rams star receiver Cooper Kupp was sidelined for the first four games of the season due to a hamstring injury. Los Angeles has a chance for both star receivers to be healthy at the start of the season if Nacua can recover from his knee injury.

McVay is looking at the upside of these injuries by focusing on the guys who are available to play.

"No, here's the one thing I've tried to be disciplined about is these guys… you sit there and you start saying 'Oh man, you're bummed out.' And it's like how selfish of me. What about these guys?" McVay said Thursday. "I know they want to be out here. I think the important thing is let's pour into the guys that are not able to be out here and the ones that are able to be out here. So we'll be better when those guys are back, whenever that timetable is. In the meantime, we owe it to ourselves and to those other guys to be able to pour into them."

There are five weeks until the NFL season begins which gives the injured starters over a month to recover. Nevertheless, four key starters for the Rams offense have been labeled as "week-to-week" which is unsettling.