LA Rams: It’s more than Terrell Lewis’ knee that is troubling

We are the (k)nights who say… KNEE

The LA Rams are really not the best team to deal with player knee issues. Whether it’s the type of injury that is difficult to diagnose, that it has far too many outcomes to resolve uniformly, or whether the types of injuries are difficult to vet when onboarding, a player with an injured knee joining the LA Rams organization is proving to be … problematic.

Unless you are the ageless wonder Andrew Whitworth, who kicks knee surgery in record recovery time.

If Terrell Lewis’ knee issues were confined to his rookie season, that would be one thing. But his availability in the 2021 NFL season is already a deep concern. Lewis seems to be off-on-off-on-off again in terms of training camp so far.  Yesterday, Lewis was off because his knee is acting up once more.

Tremendous potential upside. Tremendous potential downside. The Rams gambled.  Will Lewis be able to play a significant number of defensive snaps this year?  That is a growing concern.  He has been absent from practice multiple times for multiple days. At some point, the inability to play will exceed his performance when he does.

Does Terrell Lewis deserve a roster spot if he is 10 percent available? 20 percent? 50 percent? At some point, the Rams coaches and front office will need to draw a line on how much of Terrell Lewis they need to reserve a roster spot for him. At one point, we simply believed that Lewis would grow out of his knee issues and deliver a partial year for the team that would suffice to keep him on the roster. Now? I am not quite as certain. If Terrell Lewis can deliver no more than 200 defensive snaps in a given year, do the Rams keep him on the roster in the chance that he can deliver good quality 200 snaps?  Or must the Rams weigh the fact that a rookie like Chris Garrett is available for 800 snaps and can deliver 350 good quality defensive snaps?

Drafting a rookie with knee issues was worth the risk. Playing a rookie for 124 defensive snaps in the hopes of getting more from him the following year is worth the risk too. But diverting a full roster spot to a player who seems to be a day-to-day matter of whether he can put on the pads is nearing a dangerous area. I love what Terrell Lewis can do for the LA Rams when he’s healthy. But if he is not healthy enough to be dependable, I don’t know that the organization’s patience will last much longer.  And to be honest, I’m not sure that it should.