The Rams did not bring in a receiver via trade before the deadline, but they have acquired one who knows their system.
Los Angeles announced on Tuesday that the club has signed Xavier Smith off of San Francisco’s practice squad.
The Rams previously let go of Smith earlier in the season. He had been serving as the team’s primary returner with poor results.
Last season, Smith appeared in 16 games for the Rams, catching 18 passes for 303 yards.
L.A. needs depth at receiver with both Puka Nacua and Davante Adams on injured reserve and Jordan Whittington also being placed on IR as a corresponding move to add Smith. Tight end Terrance Ferguson is also dealing with a hamstring injury, further limiting the team’s pass catchers.
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The Vikings’ quarterback situation has been a rollercoaster with more lows than highs since Kirk Cousins left for the Falcons and Sam Darnold left for the Seahawks.
They’re expected to make their next attempt at fixing the situation on Tuesday.
A source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that the Vikings will trade for a quarterback before Tuesday’s 4:00 p.m. ET deadline.
The options, per the source, are “Daniel Jones, Geno Smith, Mac Jones, Kirk Cousins, TBD surprise, TBD huge surprise, but it will be someone.”
Other possibilities mentioned by the source were Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston.
Whatever the Vikings do, it’s going to cost them. If they’d had a deal in place before Monday night’s game, it would have been cheaper. After last night’s debacle from Carson Wentz, teams will be putting their thumbs — and elbows — on the scale.
Regardless, they need to do something. If they don’t, 6-2 could become 6-11. And that would possibly result in a new coach in Minnesota come 2027.
In the categories of “surprise” and/or “huge surprise” would be (and this is just the throwing of a dart): Justin Herbert, Matthew Stafford, and Sam Darnold.
The Jaguars have been bringing players in to fortify the roster for a deep postseason run.
They don’t intend to send one out.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports the Jaguars plan to keep receiver Brian Thomas Jr. — barring a surprise.
Thomas has been rumored to be on the trade block largely due to his lack of production this season. He’s received just 22 targets in eight games, catching 10 passes for 117 yards with two touchdowns.
The No. 23 overall pick of the 2024 draft, Thomas caught 87 passes for 1,282 yards with 10 touchdowns as a rookie. But his production dipped even last year — the first season under head coach Liam Coen — with Thomas catching just 48 passes for 707 yards with two TDs.
Even with Fowler’s report, plans can change. If a team seriously needs a receiver and is willing to pony up, the Jaguars may change their mind about dealing Thomas before the 4 p.m. ET deadline.
Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson is the ultimate team player. And he’d ultimately never say publicly if he wanted to be traded to a new team.
Teams looking for a receiver should make the call.
Few players are untouchable, when it comes to a trade. And even if the Vikings would hang up the phone and not listen, teams that need a high-end pass-catcher should try.
The Rams currently are in a pickle, thanks to the placement of Puka Nacua on injured reserve, where he joins Davante Adams. The Chiefs could use help at the position, too.
Ditto for the Steelers, who (like the Chiefs and Commanders) have interest in Jaguars receiver Brian Thomas Jr.
Then there are the 49ers, who are always lurking when it comes to possibly making a big move.
Regardless, it makes sense to make the call. If the Vikings aren’t going to make a move for a functional quarterback, they should stockpile picks and give Jefferson a chance to chase the championship that won’t happen in Minnesota — especially if they waste his seventh season by not upgrading at the quarterback position.
Yes, a trade would come with a 2027 cap charge. The Vikings also would avoid the $30 million he’s due to make in 2027, and the upgrade to meet the increased market that he surely already wants.
At the end of the day, it’s one or the other. Trade for a better quarterback, or trade Jefferson to another team. Of the available options, doing neither makes the least sense.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua is set to go on injured reserve after suffering MCL, PCL and turf toe injuries in Sunday’s win over the Commanders.
Nacua’s injuries occurred on the Rams’ final offensive play when he was tackled after rushing for five yards on third-and-11. Nacua took a handoff on the play and head coach Sean McVay was asked at a Monday press conference if he second-guessed himself for putting Nacua in position to take a hit at that point in the game.
McVay said he’s “kicking myself about those kinds of things” and called it something the Rams have to think about “internally” as they move forward.
“I’d be lying to you if I said I haven’t questioned the decision-making on that last play over and over in my head of what could have been another option that you felt like could have gotten a conversion, and maybe ended the game that would’ve led to him not taking a violent hit to his right knee,” McVay said. “It’s stuff that I feel tremendous responsibility for, and we’ve got to be able to figure out how to protect these guys while also putting them in positions that help our team and allow them to be able to shine. He’s a guy we have to be intentional about because it’s a bummer. Because he can do so much, you want to make sure you don’t take that for granted.”
With Nacua and Davante Adams now out for the indefinite future, the Rams may be in the market for receiving help before the trade deadline passes at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. They do not have their 2027 first- or third-round picks, their 2028 second-round pick or their 2029 third-round pick thanks to their trades for Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie.
The Rams will place wide receiver Puka Nacua on injured reserve with MCL and PCL knee sprains and turf toe. Coach Sean McVay said left guard Steve Avila will also miss “a little bit of time.”
Avila aggravated his hamstring injury in Sunday’s victory over the Cardinals, playing only 18 snaps.
Adam Grosbard of the LA Daily News reports that Avila will miss “several games.”
The Rams, though, are running out of IR/designated-to-return slots, so Avila may remain on the active roster.
Beaux Limmer replaced Avila at left guard on Sunday, and he is expected to start in Avila’s absence.
Cardinals quarterback Gardner Minshew remained in Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks after hurting his right arm late in the first half, but his status for the team’s Week 10 game against the Rams is not certain.
Head coach Mike LaFleur said at a Monday press conference that Minshew is undergoing tests on his arm and he said it is a possibility that he will not be able to play this week.
The Cardinals traded Jacoby Brissett to the Ravens last week, which puts third-round pick Carson Beck in position to start if Minshew is unable to play. Beck has not appeared in any games yet this season.
Minshew’s injury is one of several negative injury updates LaFleur delivered on Monday. He also announced that wide receiver Michael Wilson is out for the year with a neck injury and that center Hjalte Froholdt is in the concussion protocol.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua is headed to injured reserve, coach Sean McVay said Monday.
Nacua has sprains of his medial collateral ligament and posterior collateral ligament in his knee and a turf toe.
He will miss at least the next four games, with the Dec. 20 game against the Cowboys the earliest he can return.
Wide receiver Davante Adams is already on injured reserve.
Nacua made 14 catches for 150 yards in the 20-13 win over the Commanders on Sunday and has 70 receptions for 715 yards and four touchdowns for the season.
He was injured on the final offensive snap of Sunday’s game, a 5-yard run on third-and-11.
The Commanders, in key moments of games, continue to have a little too much Backward Hat Energy.
On Sunday, it wasn’t an issue of letting the clock expire or not knowing it was fourth down. Which made it less obvious on the surface.
Still, Commanders coach Dan Quinn made another questionable (to put it kindly) decision at the conclusion of the 20-13 loss to the Rams.
Fast forward through 59 minutes and 57 seconds. Three seconds remained. The Commanders had the ball on the L.A. 31.
One play. One shot. To the end zone.
Or not.
The Commanders dialed up a goofy, clunky, Stanford band play. It went more like Benny Hill.
Watch the play. Then ask, “Why?”
They were at the 31. Throw it to the end zone. Not a Hail Mary. A normal throw.
Remember the touchdown pass that Jayden Daniels threw to cap the Monday night game at Cincinnati in the third week of his rookie season? That was from 27 yards.
Sure, the Bengals weren’t guarding the end zone; the Rams would have been.
Regardless, let it fly. It gets caught or it doesn’t. And maybe, just maybe, there’s a pass interference call in the end zone. (Since it wasn’t a classic Hail Mary situation, the usual PI rules would have applied.)
Whatever the chances of scoring would have been, it seemingly would have made MUCH more sense to throw the ball toward the ultimate destination than to hope a short pass would be the first domino to fall in a convoluted pattern that had a minuscule chance to working out.
As Simms said on PFT Live, that’s the play you run from your own 30, not the opponent’s 30.
At the opponent’s 30, you throw it to the end zone.
Again, it wasn’t as egregious as other blunders the Commanders have made this season. And it basically got lost in an otherwise nutty day.
It shouldn’t be lost on Commanders fans. The teams had a chance to score a touchdown that would have set up a one-point try for overtime or an all-or-nothing two-point conversion. Instead, they opted to trade in six the hard way for six the impossible way.
We’ll never know what would have happened if they’d just fired the ball the end zone. We know what happened when they didn’t. And it didn’t look like it ever had a real chance to deliver the touchdown the Commanders needed.
The Rams planned to have tight end Terrance Ferguson come off of injured reserve to play against the Commanders in Week 9, but he wound up being ruled out after Friday’s practice.
Ferguson has been on injured reserve while recovering from an ankle injury and he suffered a hamstring injury at practice ahead of Sunday’s game. After the 20-13 Rams win, head coach Sean McVay said at his press conference that the injury will keep Ferguson out for a little more time.
“Pulled his hamstring. You can’t make it up, can you?” McVay said. “He was running just a standard out-cut, felt his hamstring pull and probably be another couple weeks for him.”
The Rams host the Cardinals in Week 10 and they have a bye in Week 11, so Ferguson will only miss one more game if McVay’s timeline is accurate. Even if it will take a little longer, Ferguson will have to be activated before his 21-day return window closes in order to avoid being shut down for the rest of the season.
