LOS ANGELES – Rams receiver Puka Nacua banged his previously injured knee on the ground during Thursday’s practice and had to exit the session, but head coach Sean McVay said medical staff didn’t find anything “structurally wrong” in their evaluation.
Nacua won’t practice on Friday and will be listed as “questionable” ahead of Sunday’s game at Seattle, but McVay said he “wouldn’t bet against this guy” playing. “My expectation is that he’s going to do everything in his power to be ready to roll, and that’s the mindset that we have.”
This is the third injury/issue Nacua has had with his right knee since he initially injured it in a joint training camp practice this summer. He missed the latter part of camp and was withheld from preseason practices, but returned in Week 1. In that game, an overtime loss to Detroit, Nacua sprained his PCL and had to exit just before halftime. He returned a little early from that injury to help the Rams beat the Vikings on Thursday Night Football in Week 8.
McVay said he doesn’t expect Nacua to have to manage his knee through the rest of the season.
“It’s not like it’s an arthritic knee or anything like that,” he said, “it’s just been kind of unfortunate where you’ve had the two instances that we’ve talked about and then yesterday. …What our hope is is that it was more of a scare than really anything. …
“I don’t anticipate that being something that is going to be an issue moving forward.”
Defensive tackle Neville Gallimore (neck) was ruled out for Sunday’s game. Safety Kam Curl (knee), receiver Jordan Whittington (shoulder) and defensive back Charles Woods (toe) are questionable, and reserve lineman Joe Noteboom won’t be activated out of the 21-day window just yet.
Punter Ethan Evans was ruled out with an illness. The Rams signed two punters, Ryan Sanborn and Ty Zentner, to their practice squad and will determine in Friday’s practice who will be elevated to the roster for the game (and that player will also be the holder for their kicking unit).
(Photo: Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)
