LOS ANGELES – The health of the Rams' starting offensive tackles from last year has been up in the air this offseason. Alaric Jackson, who signed a three-year extension with the team this offseason, was diagnosed with blood clots for the second time in his career, while veteran Rob Havenstein had surgeries to clean out both shoulders.
Both players' statuses were addressed on Tuesday ahead of training camp.
Head coach Sean McVay said that Jackson will not be on a PUP or NFI list to start training camp, but rather will be limited to individual drills and job throughs, while being held out of more physical offensive line activities. They are taking Jackson's injury "a day at a time," McVay said, and will monitor his progress to adapt his training regimen as needed.
"We do have a plan in place that we're confident in, that most importantly he feels good about, that hopefully leads to him being on the field for us," McVay said. "... It's always about the human being first and foremost, but he's got a lot of people that love him that are with him on this journey."
While he didn't want to set expectations for when Jackson could return, McVay didn't rule out the possibility that he could be ready to play Week 1 against the Texans. They are still in the process of understanding how best to treat Jackson's blood clots, but McVay said it is a "very real possibility" that he could be ready for the start of the 2025 season if everything goes according to plan.
Meanwhile, Havenstein said he feels "strong" and "healthy," having hit the intended benchmarks for upper body strength during offseason workouts. He added that he will be a full go at training camp practice starting on Wednesday.
"(I) feel ready to go play football," Havenstein said. "I've never been the world's biggest bencher anyway, so we'll save that for the other guys and I just kind of go out and play football, so I'm feeling pretty good."
He acknowledged that there will likely be some soreness going into Year 11, but said "that's just football." Overall, Havenstein feels like he's in a good place with his rehab and lifting schedule and is ready for his 11th Rams camp.
The Rams signed veteran offensive linemen D.J. Humphries and David Quessenberry as depth pieces should either Jackson or Havenstein be forced to miss time. Nevertheless, McVay is "hopeful and optimistic" that Jackson will be ready for Week 1, while Havenstein has only had positive reports on his health.
