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Sarah Barshop, ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Rams cornerback Derion Kendrick tore an ACL during practice Wednesday and will likely have surgery in a couple of weeks, coach Sean McVay said Thursday.
Kendrick, a sixth-round pick in 2022, started 12 games last season for Los Angeles. He had an interception and 10 passes defended in 2023.
“Unfortunately, Derion Kendrick did get his ACL yesterday,” McVay said Thursday. “I’m really proud of the way that he’s worked. He’s continued to really mature in a lot of different ways and if there’s one thing you know about this guy, he can handle setbacks. He’ll have a lot of support from his teammates and coaches and he’ll attack the rehab.”
The Rams’ cornerback room took another hit Thursday when Darious Williams appeared to get injured on the final play of practice. McVay didn’t have an update on Williams’ status, but said the veteran cornerback “felt it in his hamstring.”
Williams was one of two key cornerbacks the Rams added in free agency, alongside Tre’Davious White, who tore his right Achilles in Week 4 last season. During the Rams’ offseason program, defensive coordinator Chris Shula mentioned Kendrick as a player “doing a great job” at the star position.
When asked if the team would explore adding another cornerback after Kendrick’s injury, McVay said while the team has some depth right now, “there’s a possibility of that.”
“We’ll look at those things,” McVay said. “The thing you want to make sure you don’t do is when you get short on that depth, other guys have to pick up the slack and then it can have an accumulation of some workloads that you want to be mindful of.”
Despite the injuries, McVay said he was “really impressed’ by the cornerback group over the first two days of practice.
“I thought we played really good sticky coverage,” McVay said. “Been mixing up a bunch of different things, but the guys were on the screws mentally. … Darious has obviously done a great job, I think that Cobie Durant‘s really taken some good steps and it’s been great to have Tre’ White out there.
“And so bummed out for Derion [Kendrick] like I had mentioned, but overall, I really think our backend with the different things that we’re doing over the first couple of days, been really pleased.”
Source: www.espn.com