It’s unclear when Matthew Stafford will return to practice with the Los Angeles Rams, but head coach Sean McVay says he’s not concerned about his quarterback’s health at this point in the preseason.
Stafford left the Rams’ joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys last week with a hamstring injury and did not practice the next day as a result. He also did not play in the Rams’ 13-9 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday, where Stetson Bennett led the team the entire game, just as he did in the first preseason win over the Cowboys the week before.
“I’m not concerned,” McVay said Sunday, via ESPN’s Sarah Barshop. “I’m not … Do you want him to get the job? Of course. But I’m not concerned based on what I understand about the tightness and I’m going to err on the side of caution this week, if that’s ultimately what we have to do.”
Stafford threw for 3,965 yards and 24 touchdowns with 11 interceptions last season with the Rams. The 36-year-old also completed nearly 63% of his passes while leading the Rams to a 10-7 finish and a playoff berth — their first since winning the Super Bowl in 2021.
If Stafford is unable to play, the Rams still have Bennett and Jimmy Garoppolo at their disposal. Garoppolo, however, is suspended for the first two games of the season for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.
The Rams play a final preseason game on Saturday against the Houston Texans before opening the regular season against the Lions in Detroit on Sept. 8.
McVay doesn’t yet know what Stafford’s week will look like, but it doesn’t appear his injury will have much of an impact on the regular season, if at all.
“He can throw and do some of those things, as far as some of the movement, if he feels good … So we haven’t decided that yet,” McVay said. “But the arrow is up and he feels good as far as the hamstring tightness from last week.”
