LA Rams rookie Jacob Harris ACL injury ends his season before it begins

The LA Rams may have gone the way of athletically gifted but raw players in the 2021 NFL Draft, but the number of healthy rookies is rapidly dwindling. Before Week 9, the Rams had lost both rookie running back Jake Funk and rookie wide receiver Tutu Atwell to season-ending injuries.  Now the team faces another loss, rookie WR/TE Jacob Harris, who is now lost for the season.

Harris will become the ninth player listed on the LA Rams’ official website. But even that number is significantly understated. The Rams also lost running back Xavier Jones and running back Raymond Calais for the season as well, waiving both with an injury settlement.

So far this season, Harris has been one of the mainstays of the team’s special teams coverage unit. As with most rookies in the LA Rams offense, the team brings them along slowly.

Harris was a matchup nightmare for defenses

Even so, Harris was starting to show up on offense recently as well, at least when the offense had amassed a large enough lead to sit starters. But 15 offensive snaps were simply not enough work to get Harris involved with the starters.

The Rams added the young man because he was a matchup nightmare for defenses. He was incredibly fast, which would force defenders to be just as agile and fast to stay in step with him. But he was also 6-foot-5, forcing defenses to commit larger players to cover him. That all combined into a promising Red Zone target for the Rams down the stretch.

Now, he’ll need to await the 2022 NFL season

"“It’s a bummer. I hate that for Jacob, and you were hoping to kind of get him a little bit more involved. What that means as far as maybe we start mixing in some different personnel groupings, and Kendall Blanton played some snaps as of late, maybe you get into some different stuff like that, those are all things that we’ll explore. But I do feel good about those top five.” – as per Rams staff writer Stu Jackson’s interview of LA Rams head coach Sean McVay"

The Rams wide receiver room has been the latest position to be stomped upon by injuries. The Rams have endured injuries to running backs, outside linebackers, and now wide receivers. Complicating the matter even further is the release of veteran wide receiver DeSean Jackson over the dispute to play a larger role in the offense.

The team will waste no time in filling this roster spot. But as Jacob Harris was considered both a wide receive and a tight end at times, the question now becomes which position will the Rams fill with the next roster addition? Even more importantly, will Harris recover fully in time to compete next season?