Rams' Verse helped off field at practice with apparent knee injury

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jared Verse had to be helped off the field during practice with the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday after bumping knees with teammate Braden Fiske.

Coach Sean McVay wasn't immediately certain of the severity of the injury for Verse, the NFL defensive rookie of the year last season and one of the NFL's top young pass rushers. Verse stayed down on the turf on his hands and knees for a long moment before walking off with assistance from training staff.

“We’ll hope that he ends up being OK off of that,” McVay said.

Although Verse joined the growing list of Rams injury concerns, McVay had encouraging news on quarterback Matthew Stafford, who is expected to practice with his teammates Monday for the first time this summer.

Stafford has an aggravated disc that gave him a sore back this summer, McVay confirmed, forcing him to miss the Rams' entire training camp at Loyola Marymount University. The 37-year-old quarterback had an epidural injection “to allow him to be as healthy as possible,” McVay said.

The rest and injections appear to be working: Stafford will do a full workout Saturday while his teammates play their preseason opener against the Dallas Cowboys. He will return to practice in individual drills next week, although he won't travel to El Segundo for the Rams' joint practice against the Los Angeles Chargers on Wednesday.

“We're looking at it like he's got an acclimation period that starts on Saturday,” McVay said.

McVay reiterated that Stafford would be playing if the Rams were in the middle of the regular season, but the team believes Stafford can get “a good month of work” before the Rams' regular-season opener against Houston on Sept. 7.

“We have taken a very cautious approach, but if we were playing a game this week, he would be playing in the game,” McVay said.

Verse had 4 1/2 sacks during the regular season and two more in the playoffs for the Rams, along with a 57-yard fumble return for a touchdown. An aggressive rusher and versatile all-around defender, the Rams’ only first-round draft pick since 2016 is the heart of Los Angeles’ rebuilt defensive front alongside Byron Young, Kobie Turner and Fiske, his college teammate at Florida State.

Turner is also week to week with a back injury, McVay said after the Rams’ final practice before their first preseason game.

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