Team news: Los Angeles Rams | Page 1

Rams head coach Sean McVay said Sunday he expects WR Cooper Kupp to play Thursday against the Vikings.

Kupp has not played since spraining his ankle in Week 2. He was close to returning this week but was held out, perhaps due to the short week upcoming. He’ll be a nice welcomed back addition to the offense after catching 18 passes in the first two weeks of the season.

Rams WR Cooper Kupp (ankle) is questionable for Sunday's game vs. Raiders. Sean McVay says decision could come closer to the game.

Jordan Whittington (shoulder) is expected to play vs. Raiders, Sean McVay said. OL Joe Noteboom (ankle) will not be activated from IR this week.

Related Players: Tutu Atwell, Demarcus Robinson

We would obivously rather have a clear understanding of the WR room heading into the weekend, but as it stands, Kupp should re-join the team and be considered a fantasy WR2 if he suits up.

Rams QB Matthew Stafford, who had back soreness after loss to Packers, is "doing great and he's not going to miss any time," McVay said.

Stafford got hit around in the Week 5 loss to the Packers, which came before their Week 6 bye. It sounds like Stafford is good to go, and the bye week came at the right time, but it's always something to monitor. Stafford is as tough as the come but also getting up there in age.

Rams WR Cooper Kupp will workout with trainers today but no determination has been made about his availability for Sunday’s game against Raiders, McVay said. Puka Nacua will not practice this week.

Related players: Demarcus Robinson, Tutu Atwell, Jordan Whittington, Tyler Johnson

There was some hope before the bye week that Kupp would be ready to go in Week 7, and that still looks like it could be possible, however certainly not a lock at this point. Owners will want to monitor Kupp's status leading up to Week 7 games. The Rams host the Raiders in a later Sunday game, so the matchup would be a nice one, but waiting on Kupp will come with risks if he's a game-time call. If Kupp can't go, the Rams have been going with a combination of Robinson, Atwell, Whittington and Johnson at the wideout position, all of which come with their own risks if in your lineup.

Cooper Kupp has missed three games, and the Rams are on their off week this week.

Rams coach Sean McVay said Monday that Kupp’s return for Week 7 would be “an ideal target” but “by no means is that guaranteed.”

Related players: Puka Nacua, Demarcus Robinson, Tutu Atwell, Jordan Whittington, Colby Parkinson

Kupp has not played since Week 2 when he injured his ankle against the Cardinals. The Rams did not place him on injured reserve, hoping he would miss fewer than four games, the story said. Kupp's return will help a banged up Rams WR group that still has Nacua out of commission. Whittington went for 7-89-0 and was targeted 10 times as well Atwell who finished 6-58-0 last week. Robinson had the lone TD catch but had a 3-28-1 line on five targets. Parkinson was targeted a team-high 13 times and went for 7-52-0.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was on the list of players dealing with injuries at head coach Sean McVay’s Monday press conference, but he isn’t expected to miss any game action.

McVay said that Stafford is dealing with back soreness after Sunday’s 24-19 loss to the Packers.

The Rams have a bye this week and McVay said that he expects Stafford to be a full participant in practice when they return for Week 7, the story said. Stafford was sacked three times and hit 10 times as well.

There won’t be any suspense about wide receiver Cooper Kupp’s status this week.

Rams head coach Sean McVay told reporters on Monday that Kupp has been ruled out for the team’s Week 4 game against the Bears.

Related players: Tutu Atwell, Demarcus Robinson, Jordan Whittington, and Tyler Johnson

Kupp injured his ankle in Week 2. The story said the early decision to rule him out suggests he’ll be off the practice field again this week, but the team did not put Kupp on injured reserve so it would seem they expect him to play by Week 7 — they have a bye in Week Six — at the latest. Atwell led the way with a 4-93-0 line with Robinson going for 1-32-0. Whittington added a line of 3-28-0 and Johnson had 3-20-0. With Puka Nacua also out for at least two more weeks, the Rams WR situation seems a bit tricky for fantasy owners.

Rams star WR Cooper Kupp suffered a high-ankle sprain in LA’s loss on Sunday, and he’ll spend the next week or so in a cast helping the swelling calm down, sources said.

The team did not place him on Injured Reserve, as there is still a chance he’s ready within four weeks.

Related Players: Demarcus Robinson, Tyler Johnson, Tutu Atwell, Jordan Whittington

A little bit of good news bad news here, as Kupp may not miss more than four games, but it still seems like it will be significant time. As it stands, Robinson is the most experienced option and will be the most likely option to lead the team in routes, with Johnson closely behind.

If you missed out on them through waiver runs and still want a piece of this offense, Whittington is the wild card, and should be targeted in deeper leagues.

Rams head coach Sean McVay said that wide receiver Cooper Kupp and left guard Jonah Jackson are both set to miss extended time after suffering injuries in Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals. Kupp hurt his ankle and Jackson aggravated a shoulder injury.

McVay also confirmed that safety John Johnson will miss multiple weeks with a shoulder injury. He called all three players candidates for injured reserve.

Related players: Puka Nacua, Demarcus Robinson, Tyler Johnson, Jordan Whittington, Tutu Atwell, Matthew Stafford

With Nacua already on IR, the Rams offense is taking another hit with the loss of Kupp. Robinson and Johnson could take over as the team's top two, but those of you in the dynasty community may be high on Whittington, who has drawn comparisons to Nacua. Any of the three are worth picking up, and could get significant time over the next month at least.

The Rams used a third-round pick on running back Blake Corum with the idea that they’d use him to share reps and carries with Kyren Williams. On Sunday night, that didn’t happen.

Williams had 21 touches (with 18 carries). Corum had none. That’s because Williams was on the field for 91 percent of the offensive snaps (71 total). And Corum was there for none.

So what happened?

“I think each game is going to be its own entity,” coach Sean McVay told reporters on Monday, the day after the 26-20 overtime loss to the Lions. “It was a very unique circumstance because when we got so many of our [offensive] linemen banged up, it limited some of the different — basically, we didn’t operate off anything that our game plan was."

Related players: Ronnie Rivers

Corum was supposed to be able to spell Williams this season because the Rams gave Williams such a big workload last season. Williams was one of the top fantasy backs as a result, but the plan seemed to be to give Williams less of a workload to help keep him healthy. McVay went on to say he also wants to get Rivers more carries, but in Week 1 there were circumstances that kept guys on the field they trusted. Despite the preseason hype around Corum, right now the Rams just trust Williams more, and it seems like Rivers more as well. That will likely change at some point as talent usually wins out, and Corum should at least become the team's RB2. For now, Corum owners can't trust him in lineups until we see a lot more in terms of fantasy production.