Matthew Stafford injury timeline gets messier for Los Angeles Rams as season nears

The Matthew Stafford injury for the Los Angeles Rams isn’t going away as the preseason nears an end.

In fact, it might just be spawning more questions.

Rams head coach  Sean McVay, after all, recently called Stafford’s hamstring issue a “little something,” according to Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times. Yet Stafford has mostly gone on to miss multiple practices and his status this week remains a question mark. It initially seemed like he would be able to practice this week.

“He can throw and do some of those things,” McVay said, according to Klein. “As far as just some of the movement, if he’s feeling good, we haven’t decided that yet.”

McVay sounds adamant he’s not overly concerned about the situation for the 36-year-old veteran, who presumably doesn’t need much time to ramp up to full effectiveness at this stage of his career.

However, should the Rams need to take a precautionary route in Week 1 and beyond, roster depth is lacking. Jimmy Garoppolo is on the roster, yet suspended for the first two games of the season for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drugs policy. Stetson Bennett would seemingly otherwise start, yet he hasn’t been overly impressive in a pair of preseason showings.

Stafford appeared in 15 games last year, throwing for 3,965 yards and with 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. The Rams went 10-7 and struggled when Brett Rypien stepped into the fray in a loss to Green Bay.

For now, at least, the Rams sound like a team that will have Stafford for the opener, even if the recent vibes around his chances of being available for practices this week have changed.

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