Rams coach Sean McVay doesn’t think the risk of injuries in preseason is worth it

Over the last two years, the Los Angeles Rams have taken a precautionary approach to how they have handled the preseason.

This has led to them largely not playing their starters in the exhibition action to keep them fresh for the regular season. Head coach Sean McVay touched upon this subject earlier this week further emphasis this direction while voicing that he views it as more of an injury risk than anything else, according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk.

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“I think there is a lot of merit to that. But when you look at some of the continuity now that we have on both sides of the ball coming back, and you say, If something were to happen, is it really worth that risk in our mind? We just felt like that answer is no. That’s the approach that we’re taking, I totally understand if people don’t agree with that, but we always make decisions that are in the best interests of our team. That’s just really for this unit. Does that mean we’ll always have that luxury? I think if you have a different number of returning players, then the narrative on that is a little different.”

McVay isn’t stating that the entire preseason is useless as there is still some value to it as it allows players on the fringe to make the roster, but there is some greater injury risk to it all. This could be a place where a significant injury to a key piece of the puzzle could put the franchise in a tough spot before the start of the regular season.

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This has led to him taking the approach last preseason to not even play many of the starters including Todd Gurley and Jared Goff one snap in any of the four games. It looks like it could once again be the case for the Rams this time around.

Nonetheless, the Rams’ main focus looks to be getting to the 2019 season as healthy as possible.