The Rams emerged from Monday night’s win with a couple of injuries at a fairly important position.
Return specialist Pharoh Cooper (pictured) has an ankle injury that may require surgery.
“Pharoh . . . got his ankle pretty good,” coach Sean McVay told reporters on Tuesday. “It might require it to get fixed. He’s getting a second opinion on that, so he’s going to be out for some time right now. . . . It’s definitely going to be something that’s going to limit him and keep him out for at least a few weeks.”
So next man up, right? Um, no. The next man up at the position of kickoff returner is also down for a few weeks with a groin injury.
“Mike Thomas is the backup there, so that makes it really complicated,” McVay said. “So whether we handle that internally or we go outside for somebody else to figure that role out, those are things that we’ve kind of been discussing. In terms of making that final decision, that’ll be something that we’ll probably decide on in the next day or so.”
Cooper has, per McVay, “a pretty serious ankle sprain,” sufficiently bad to prompt McVay to suggest Cooper may have been better off breaking it.
So the opportunity arises for a free agent with return skills to get a shot in L.A. Or maybe the Rams will look into trading with a team that currently has a surplus as the position. It’s also possible that backup punt returner Cooper Kupp will get a chance to return kickoffs, too.