THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Los Angeles Rams inside linebacker Mark Barron will begin the regular season without having played in any preseason games, and a handful of other starting defensive players might, too.
Rams head coach Sean McVay said Tuesday that Barron will be kept out of the third preseason game, at home against the neighboring Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday. Outside linebacker Robert Quinn and cornerback Kayvon Webster — who, like Barron, also missed the first two preseason contests — could also miss that game, though McVay said “there’s a chance” that they play.
“We’re going to be smart with Barron, just for a variety of reasons,” McVay said of the sixth-year linebacker. “We know what Mark can do, we know what he’s capable of, and it’s about getting Mark to Sept. 10 as healthy as possible. I think when Mark’s right, he’s a special player.”
The Rams’ defense has been without five projected starters in the first couple of preseason games, a list that includes Quinn, Barron, Webster, and defensive linemen Aaron Donald (holding out because of his contract situation) and Dominique Easley (out for the year after an ACL tear).
Webster was going to practice on Tuesday, but his ankle was bothering him too much to step on the field. Quinn was going to practice, but he took a knee to the thigh from Michael Brockers, the Rams’ 6-foot-5, 302-pound nose tackle, during a walkthrough drill. McVay said Quinn is “going to be OK,” but that he and Webster remain day-to-day.
Most of the Rams’ starters are expected to play the entire first half and into the third quarter on Saturday. The team then wraps up the preseason in Green Bay the following Thursday, but none of the starters are expected to play then. Like Barron, Tavon Austin, who is still recovering from a hamstring injury, isn’t expected to play in any preseason games. It doesn’t look like Donald will, either.
The Rams are still waiting for him to show up.
“I think it’s kind of the same where we’re just trying to continue to find a solution to this,” McVay said, adding that COO Kevin Demoff, general manager Les Snead and senior assistant Tony Pastoors have been in “active conversations with Donald’s representatives at CAA.”
“The thing that’s been really pleasing about our team is that in the meantime it hasn’t been a distraction.” McVay added. “We’d love to have Aaron here, we’ll welcome him back with open arms if that does happen, but in the meantime, guys are finding ways to get better and kind of just moving forward one day at a time.”