Shortly after the Los Angeles Rams’ Week 6 win over the Arizona Cardinals, starting cornerback Derion Kendrick found himself in a jail cell.
The second-year player was arrested in Hollywood early Monday morning after a traffic stop and was charged with two misdemeanor gun offenses — carrying a concealed firearm and carrying a loaded firearm — according to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.
Although he wasn’t willing to reveal any of the details of what happened, Kendrick was able to return to the Rams’ facility on Friday and got back on the practice field. Despite losing a few pounds, he said that he is ready to go and expected to play on Sunday in Week 7 when the Rams host the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaking on the subject, Rams head coach Sean McVay explained why he’s comfortable bringing Kendrick back in and allowing him to play, via Sarah Barshop of ESPN:
“I think there’s certain circumstances and situations that arise that you always use your values and principles to be able to make decisions,” McVay said. “I trust this kid’s heart. I believe in him. I also believe in forgiveness and understanding and there’s certain things that we can use to be able to learn from and then there’s certain mistakes that people make that maybe it’s a little bit different conversation. But based on my understanding of what occurred, I feel like this is something that we can move forward with.”
Kendrick also talked about what he learned from the situation and how he can be better moving forward:
Kendrick said he has had the chance to apologize for being a distraction for the team and said Friday that the incident was “definitely” a learning experience for him.
“Just teaching me how to move and just how to move out here anyways,” Kendrick said. “To get my own security or get a driver to drive me around or stuff like that, just so I won’t be followed or whatever the case may be.”
McVay and the Rams have been in communication with the league about a potential punishment for Kendrick, although if there is one, it will not come down this week.
As Kendrick said, hopefully this is a situation he can learn from to avoid it happening again. Regardless though, he is a key piece of the Rams’ secondary and will be needed to pick up a win in Week 7 and beyond so look for him to get his focus back on the field starting with this weekend.
