Injuries have been a major issue for the Los Angeles Rams this season, losing several key starters for multiple games at a time. It was particularly problematic early in the year when Puka Nacua, Steve Avila, Jonah Jackson, Joe Noteboom and Darious Williams were all on injured reserve at the same time. All five of those players have since been activated, but John Johnson III and Troy Reeder are two starters who remain on IR.
They’re both eligible to be activated as early as this week after missing the last four-plus games, but it’s not as simple as just adding them to the 53-man roster. The NFL’s rules for injured reserve present the Rams with a tough decision. Teams can only designate up to eight players to return from IR in a single season and the Rams have already used seven: the five aforementioned players, as well as KT Leveston and Larrell Murchison.
That leaves them with just one more activation spot available. So will it be Johnson or will it be Reeder? The player who isn’t designated to return will miss the remainder of the regular season, with a possibility of returning for the playoffs when teams are given two more activation spots.
“With ‘JJ’, you have him and you have Troy Reeder (as) guys where you have that one spot available,” McVay said last week. “Tyler Higbee wouldn’t count towards that. I think what you do is you take it a week at a time. I would say that Higbee’s a couple weeks away. J.J. could be on a week-to-week thing, as is Troy Reeder.”
Johnson’s return is taking longer than expected, which could be a sign that the Rams don’t plan on activating him at all this season. He went out with a shoulder injury in Week 2 and was expected to miss 4-6 weeks, which would’ve put him on track to return around Week 8.
It’s now Week 12 and McVay is still saying it’s a “week-to-week thing.” Johnson posted on Instagram last week that he “can’t wait to get back,” with the hashtag #FreeJJ, which could be taken as him saying he’s ready to return already.
The tricky part with both of these players is their replacements are performing well. The Rams have found a ton of success with the group of Kam Curl, Quentin Lake, Kamren Kinchens and Jaylen McCollough, so it’s unclear if Johnson would even take back his starting role.
At linebacker, Omar Speights and Christian Rozeboom have stood out in a positive way with Reeder sidelined, improving the middle of the Rams defense. Would the Rams really take Speights off the field and put Reeder back in?
It won’t be an easy decision either way, and McVay hasn’t given any indication as to which way the Rams are leaning. Johnson’s return would come at the expense of playing time for the team’s young, emerging safeties, while Reeder’s would take Speights out of the starting lineup.
The smarter move might be to activate Johnson and start him alongside Curl, allowing Lake to move back to the “star” role of covering the slot. That would probably improve the cornerback group, limiting snaps for Ahkello Witherspoon, who’s exclusively a boundary corner.
