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.
