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Sarah Barshop, ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — Puka Nacua will not practice on Friday after banging his right knee during practice on Thursday, but head coach Sean McVay said he “wouldn’t bet against” the Los Angeles Rams wide receiver playing on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.
Nacua left practice early on Thursday after he “banged his knee [on the ground] just a little bit,” McVay said. “Fortunately there’s nothing structurally [wrong],” McVay said. He’ll be listed as questionable, but I wouldn’t bet against this guy. My expectation is he’s going to do everything in his power to be ready to roll and that’s the mindset that we have.”
Nacua first injured his right knee during a joint practice on Aug. 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers and missed three weeks of practice with the injury. He then aggravated the injury in the Rams’ season opener and spent the next five weeks on injured reserve.
Nacua was activated from IR for Week 8 against the Minnesota Vikings and had seven catches for 106 yards.
McVay said Nacua will not practice on Friday in an effort to “be smart with him, get him turned over and try to get that knee feeling as good as possible for game day.” He will be listed as questionable on the injury report.
The Rams’ head coach said while the injury scare on Thursday isn’t ideal, “it’s different” than the first two times Nacua has injured his right knee “in regards to what the MRIs and what the scans show.”
In two games this season, Nacua has 11 catches for 141 yards. As a rookie last season, Nacua set records for the most receptions (105) and receiving yards (1,486) for a rookie in NFL history.