The Los Angeles Rams are managing two significant injury situations as training camp winds down, with defensive end Myles Garrett and wide receiver Puka Nacua both banged up heading into this week’s preseason opener. Neither injury appears serious, but head coach Sean McVay and the Rams’ training staff are choosing patience over risk with two of the roster’s biggest names.
Garrett missed his second straight practice Tuesday during a joint session with the Dallas Cowboys, watching from the sideline in a sleeve on his left leg. McVay told reporters Garrett is dealing with swelling in his knee and estimated the two-time Defensive Player of the Year is at around 85 percent, according to Athlon Sports. The coach was unsure which knee was bothering him, though McVay stressed there have been no setbacks in the recovery.
“We just erred on the side of caution,” McVay said, via SI.com.
It’s not an isolated incident. Garrett had already missed four consecutive practices earlier in camp with what McVay called lower-body soreness before briefly returning to the field. Tuesday marked the sixth day of camp the pass rusher has sat out in total, per Yahoo Sports. The Rams landed Garrett in a blockbuster June trade, sending Jared Verse and three future draft picks to Cleveland to acquire the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who racked up an NFL-record 23 sacks last season, according to Heavy.com.
Nacua’s afternoon carried its own scare. The All-Pro wide receiver left the joint practice early, walking off with the training staff, after something happened during the session that even McVay couldn’t immediately explain. Quarterback Matthew Stafford tried to calm nerves in real time.
“I’m not really sure what the issue was, but nobody ran up to me in a panic,” Stafford said, via Larry Brown Sports. “So I don’t think it was anything too major.”
Stafford’s read on it held up. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport later reported that Nacua was dealing with minor soreness in his groin and that the Rams were simply being cautious with their star receiver’s workload.
Nacua enters his fourth season off a league-leading 129 receptions for 1,715 yards and 10 touchdowns, earning his first All-Pro nod, per Yahoo Sports. Losing him for any real stretch would be a significant blow to an offense built around the Stafford-McVay-Nacua core that’s carried Super Bowl expectations into the 2026 season.
Why the Rams Are Playing It Safe
None of this is about hiding something serious. It’s about math. Training camp reps in mid-August matter far less than having your best defender and top receiver at full strength in September — and especially a month from now, when the Rams open a stretch that includes a high-profile matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. There’s no reason to push a player through a nagging knee or a sore groin when the practice being missed is against an opponent, not a division rival in Week 1.
That logic explains why Garrett has been in and out of the lineup all camp rather than shut down outright, and why Nacua’s exit Tuesday didn’t turn into a bigger story once Rapoport’s report landed. The Rams practice facility at Warner Center in Woodland Hills has become a low-stakes environment by design this time of year — exactly where teams want their stars operating with margin for error.
What’s Next
Los Angeles opens its three-game preseason slate Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium against the Kansas City Chiefs, with kickoff set for 4 p.m. ET on NFL Network, according to the Rams’ official site. Neither Garrett nor Nacua figures to see significant preseason snaps regardless of their health, which only reinforces why the team isn’t rushing either player back this week.
