IRVINE, Calif. — For the first time since Super Bowl LVI, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford threw passes during practice.
Although Stafford was at the Rams’ spring workouts, he was recovering from an injection in his right elbow and didn’t throw during OTAs or minicamp. The quarterback said Sunday, after the first day of camp, that he is “just trying to progress back into it,” but that he felt good on the field.
“It feels good to get out there, just knock some rust off it a little bit, stress it and see how it reacts,” Stafford said.
Rams coach Sean McVay said Stafford was a “full participant” in practice Sunday. Stafford said he was able to throw the ball in workouts away from the facility between OTAs and training camp and gradually built his arm up for camp.
“We will continue to build him up,” McVay said of Stafford’s workload. “We’re aware of what that pitch count is. But it didn’t restrict him from being able to do anything today.”
McVay also said the Rams decided to “pivot” and not put cornerback Jalen Ramsey on the PUP list, after saying Friday that would be the case. Ramsey had shoulder surgery during the offseason.
“Doctors cleared him in a limited fashion,” McVay said. “That enables him to participate in a lot of the jog-throughs, the above-the-neck stuff. And to be able to have him out here with his teammates with all the different things that we ask of him, he felt good about that. We felt good about that. And so I think that’s what’s best for our football team. That’s why we kind of pivoted in that direction.”