The Los Angeles Rams reported to training camp with one collective goal in mind and that’s to repeat as Super Bowl champions. For that to happen though, key players will have to stay healthy, most notably quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Stafford played banged up for most of his first season, and it came to light this offseason that he was dealing with an elbow injury. He received an injection to help alleviate the pain, but the Rams have outlined a throwing plan for him during training camp to keep him healthy and fresh for another long season ahead.
According to Gary Klein of the L.A. Times, Stafford is dealing with tendinitis in his elbow:
Stafford is dealing with tendinitis, a person with knowledge of the situation said Thursday. The person requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
While Sean McVay was not willing to confirm that exact diagnosis, he compared what Stafford is dealing with to Major League Baseball pitchers:
“It is a tricky deal,” coach Sean McVay said Thursday after practice, adding, “It’s a little bit abnormal for a quarterback. You know some of this stuff is things that MLB pitchers deal with and so it is something that we’re kind of learning about on the fly.”
The elbow issue has forced Stafford to be limited in training camp as he has only been making a handful of throws per day. McVay says that the plan the medical team came up with is designed to alleviate the pain in his arm:
“We tried some things in the offseason, however you want to look at, some of the different treatments that we had tried, and I don’t know that it got different results than what we had hoped,” McVay said. “But I think we were hoping that some of the pain would have been alleviated — and that’s really the goal.”
Stafford is as tough as they come and has played through injuries his whole career, so this is just another issue that he will have to be mindful of and manage throughout the season.
Any time a quarterback is dealing with an arm injury it’s not ideal though, so it will be something to monitor throughout camp. If Stafford is forced to miss any time then John Wolford would be in line to start with Bryce Perkins as his backup.
