Rams stars Myles Garrett and Puka Nacua remained sidelined by their injuries, but they should be able to return to the field sooner than later — though it may not be this week.
Head coach Sean McVay told reporters after practice that at this point, both Garrett and Nacua are expected to return to practice next week.
“Puka is doing good, whether or not we wait for next week or not, we’re just kind of taking it a day at a time,” McVay said, via Zach Edwards of the team’s website. “Then Myles, we’ll see, probably next week as to when we think we’ll get those guys back.”
“Myles is doing a good job. He was out here moving around before. Puka still has some soreness there,” McVay added. “We’re going to err on the side of caution while not minimizing how important it is to get those guys out here.”
Garrett has been dealing with swelling in his knee while Nacua suffered a core muscle injury last week.
As McVay has said before when it comes to injuries and key players, he’s stressing that both Garrett and Nacua need to come back and perform at a high level.
“It gets to a point where, hey, we need our guys out there to be able to practice to get ready to simulate what’s going to be a great, long, challenging season,” McVay said. “No matter how great you are when you’re in those guys’ roles, we need to be able to get them out there. But we want to make sure that it’s a return to performance, not just return to play.”
Additionally, McVay noted offensive lineman Keagan Trost and receiver Mario Williams are likely to miss a few weeks as both are dealing with hamstring injuries.
The Rams will host the Saints on Saturday afternoon for the second week of preseason play.
The Rams are continuing to give two of their star players time to heal.
Per Sarah Barshop of ESPN, receiver Puka Nacua and edge rusher Myles Garrett are not practicing on Monday.
Nacua is dealing with a core muscle injury suffered during last week’s joint practice with the Cowboys.
Garrett has been sidelined by swelling in his knee.
The Rams will host the Saints for a preseason matchup on Saturday afternoon. Neither Nacua nor Garrett were expected to play even without being injured, as Los Angeles has not traditionally played starters in the preseason under head coach Sean McVay.
Playing in Australia to start the regular season, the Rams have added a punter from down under.
Los Angeles announced on Monday that the club has signed Jack Bouwmeester.
Bouwmeester does not count against the 90-man roster, as he is the club’s international player exemption.
After playing college ball at Michigan State, Utah, and Texas from 2019-2025, Bouwmeester went undrafted in the spring and signed with the 49ers as a college free agent.
San Francisco waived him last week.
Aaron Donald initially worked out at the Rams team facility on Aug. 5 to evaluate how he felt. He did so again Sunday.
According to the NFL personnel notice, the defensive tackle worked out in Woodland Hills.
The three-time Defensive Player of the Year began considering a comeback after the Rams traded for two-time Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. He has not made a decision yet, and the Rams aren’t giving him any deadlines.
“I’m hopeful that it will be sooner than later, but I also want to respect when he does feel like that clarity will come,” coach Sean McVay said Saturday. “I don’t want to say too much or put some sort of invisible deadline on something that doesn’t exist in my mind for him.”
Donald has not played in the NFL since 2023.
And now it’s becoming a little more apparent why the Rams used the 13th overall pick in the draft on quarterback Ty Simpson.
Yes, it was only the preseason. For rookie quarterbacks, it’s all about looking the part. Simpson looked the part on Saturday at Kansas City.
Simpson completed 21 of 25 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns in three quarters of action.
“He took what the defense gave him,” coach Sean McVay said after the game. “You know, I thought he read the plays out, read with his feet. You know, I thought he did a really good job overall. And I thought, even on some of the keepers, where maybe the primary isn’t there, he attacks with the ball up. . . .
“I thought he kept the ball in play. You know, that’s the biggest thing, is keeping the ball in play. There was one situation there, we’ll have a great learning [opportunity] on a third down, where, you know, they kind of played a man coverage, we ended up throwing into the flat to [tight end] Max Klare. I’ve got to see — I think the pocket might allow him to be able to progress, but otherwise, it was a really good day for him. He just felt like he was in good command, and it was cool to see a good smile on his face.”
McVay may be smiling, too, if he thinks the rookie can be trusted to serve as the understudy to reigning MVP Matthew Stafford. The only other option is Stetson Bennett, who has no regular-season snaps in three seasons.
Ideally, the preseason will be Simpson’s only chance to get live reps. That likely explains the decision to give him three full quarters of playing time.
But it’s not just development for a post-Stafford future. They need to have someone ready, in the event Stafford’s back flares up or he has some other injury during the grind of a 17-game season.
