Entering the offseason, the Los Angeles Rams decided to gamble on veteran defensive back Tre’Davious White, who was coming off another injury-riddled season with the Buffalo Bulls.
White suffered a torn Achilles during the 2023 season and was subsequently cut by the Bills, paving the way for him to sign with the Rams.
Although White was able to rehab and start Week 1, his performance has left much to be desired as he works his way back. However, White was inactive for Los Angeles’ Week 5 loss to the Green Bay Packers and head coach Sean McVay explained why that happened.
“With Tre’Davious White, it was a coaching decision,” McVay said. “He’s been a pro in every sense of the word, but [we] get Darious [Williams] back [and] we felt like we were going to have a larger role for Ahkello [Witherspoon]. There are some special teams considerations that go into it. That was what resulted in him being inactive today.”
With White on the bench, McVay got a longer look at the other defensive backs on the roster and offered a relatively positive evaluation. “I thought they did a good job. I have to go back and look at the long one that they had to [Packers TE Tucker] Kraft.
“You look at it overall, I was really pleased. We were sticky in coverage [and] we were connected. It wasn’t until really late in the game that they got their first third down conversion. [Packers Wide Receiver Jayden] Reed makes a great play where we’ve got three guys in position. It was like the ball went in the only spot that it could be able to make that play. Overall, it seemed like they played pretty well.”
The current group of Ahkello Witherspoon, Darious Williams and Cobie Durant will likely be the cornerbacks used going forward, though White can serve as valuable depth should another injury occur.
He does have incentives in his contract tied to playing time, so if the Rams do not feel he is good enough to give them a chance to win, he will continue to ride the bench.
Sean McVay says Rams will evaluate everything heading into the bye week
The Rams have been hit hard by injuries, but finally get a chance to reset as they head into their Week 6 bye. McVay noted that he and the team will evaluate the entire roster during the down time in order to find ways to improve as a group.
“I think everything. We’ll evaluate everything. That was a result of Josh Wallace playing some ‘star’ today. That enabled Quentin Lake to play safety almost exclusively with the exception of a couple things. But that’s a good observation. We’ll observe everything. When you’re in these situations, we have to do a good job of making sure that we look at the totality of everything, regardless of position, and make sure that we’re doing a great job of trying to make sure that we play as good a football as we can with the remainder of the season.”
