The Los Angeles Rams have finally revealed quarterback Matthew Stafford’s status for Sunday’s opener against the Houston Texans.
Despite missing nearly a moth of training camp due to back issues, the Super Bowl champion will be under center at SoFi Stadium against the visiting Texans, Rams coach Sean McVay said Monday.
McVay also said left tackle Alaric Jackson is on track to play after joining practice Monday for the first time since he was sidelined with blood clots before training camp began. Jackson is expected to practice all week before the Rams host the Houston Texans.
While McVay couldn’t definitively say Jackson will suit up Sunday, Stafford will be behind center, barring a setback.
The 37-year-old Stafford has participated in the past two weeks of practice with the Rams after getting off to a slow start to his 17th NFL season.
The Super Bowl-winning quarterback aggravated a disk in his back during offseason training, and he was unable to join the Rams’ first four weeks of practice.
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford should be in action on Sunday
‘Backs are sometimes interesting things,’ Stafford said late last month. ‘It’s not cut-and-dried what’s what, and how you’re going to feel. I really appreciate our team and our head coach and everybody taking a day-to-day approach with me and doing everything they can to help me out.
‘I feel a ton of responsibility to our team to do what’s right for them, and to try to do the best I can day in, day out.’
Stafford sat out all three preseason games, as is normal for all of McVay’s key players.
He still hasn’t played in a game with Davante Adams, the veteran receiver signed by the Rams in the offseason, but the rest of his offense is nearly all returning players.
Despite the 37-year-old practicing for the first time last week, some NFL fans circulated bizarre theories about his absence – namely that he has died.
Some fans claimed that Stafford had passed away and that his clone was playing for the Rams
A Barstool Sports headline this week read, ‘The Best NFL conspiracy theory on the internet – Matthew Stafford died a couple weeks ago, got cloned, new one is now QB1 for the Rams.’
And Stafford’s wife Kelly weighed in on the wild conspiracy theory on Instagram this week.
‘I knew there was something different about him….that @ammortal_official is wild,’ the podcast host wrote on her Instagram story Thursday, while sharing the Barstool headline.
Jackson, the Rams’ starting left tackle for the past two seasons, agreed to a three-year, $57 million contract extension in the offseason. Stafford also renegotiated his contract, getting more guaranteed money in what’s essentially a year-to-year deal.
