The Los Angeles Rams haven’t been able to dodge the injury bug throughout their first three games of the 2024 season. The Rams have 11 players on injured reserve, including two who are out for the rest of the season and one on the physically unable to perform list. Per the NFL rules, each team can activate eight players off injured reserve, plus an additional two more if they make the playoffs. A player can return from IR twice but counts against the eight-player allocation.
The Rams’ best cornerback aggravated his injury before the start of Week 1.
The Los Angeles Rams placed their veteran cornerback on IR
Darious Williams suffered a hamstring strain on their second day of training camp and missed over a month of practice. Williams aggravated his hamstring injury during a practice session on Wednesday, the week of their season opener. As a result, the Rams placed him on injured reserve, and he will miss at least one more week. He is eligible to return to the football field next week, but it’s not looking good.
The Los Angeles Rams don’t know if he’ll be ready for Week 5
As previously mentioned, Darious Williams is eligible to return in Week 5, but it’s a matter of if he’s ready to play. Head coach Sean McVay told reporters Wednesday they haven’t thought about activating him yet.
“I don’t know that yet,” he said. “We haven’t had a chance to talk about that but I do know this, he’s making good progress. As far as when he will be able to return, [we] have not decided that yet.”
Once Week 4 concludes, the Rams can still designate him for return and not be quite ready to play. They can open his 21-day practice window, which allows him to practice before being activated to the active roster. If he doesn’t practice or the team chooses not to activate him in that time frame, he will miss the rest of the season.
Since the Rams are generally conservative when handling injuries, it seems logical that they won’t activate him until Week 7 since they have a BYE in Week 6.
Who has replaced him in the starting rotation?
Cobie Durant has replaced Darious Williams in the starting rotation. So far, Durant has done a decent job in relief of Williams, with ten tackles and one pass deflection, and allowed seven receptions on 12 targets for 82 yards, zero touchdowns, and a 79.2 passer rating in coverage.
Since Tre’Davious White has struggled and Cobie Durant has played well, Williams could replace White in the starting rotation instead of Durant once he returns.
