If you were looking forward to your first glimpse of Matthew Stafford under center for the Los Angeles Rams this weekend, you’re going to have to wait a little while longer.
Rams head coach Sean McVay said Thursday that Stafford, the rest of the Rams starters, and some key depth pieces all will not play in Saturday’s preseason opener against the Los Angeles Chargers.
“We’ll get a chance to see a lot of our depth guys because there’s going to be probably about 35 players that are not playing in this game for us,” McVay said, via Lindsey Thiry of ESPN.com. “The goal is always to try to stay healthy.”
This isn’t a new idea for McVay. It’s the fourth straight year the team has benched starters during the preseason in an effort to keep all of their key players healthy for games that actually count in the standings.
With backup quarterback John Wolford also set to miss the preseason after an appendectomy last week, the Rams will turn to Devlin Hodges and Bryce Perkins to get them through the preseason at quarterback.