The loss of E.J. Gaines no doubt forces a shuffling of the deck for the Rams and will require a step up in effort from the entire unit. “We’ll keep him busy and keep him occupied during his rehab”, a team source said in the report.
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According to the report, the Rams first thought it was related to his knee until after extensive tests and a visit to a well known foot specialist revealed that it was a Lisfranc injury.
NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk reported that Gaines broke his midfoot bone “when a teammate stepped” onto it during their August 2 training camp session. St. Louis held pat that Gaines was still undergoing testing as recently as Saturday night. He wasn’t expected to get much playing time, but an injury to Trumaine Johnson opened the door for the rookie to shine, and shine he did.
With Gaines no longer available for the whole of the upcoming season, reports were also saying that undrafted rookie Imoan Clairborne from Northwestern State could be included in the Ram’s final roster as a result.
Still, team officials see Gaines’ full season exclusion a “tough break” that St. Louis would have to overcome until he comes back. In fact, Gaines continued to start, even when Johnson was healthy.
After posting 70 tackles, two interceptions, two fumble recoveries and eight pass breakups in 15 games last year, Gaines was the odds-on favorite to win a competition with Johnson for the outside starting spot this year. Pro Football Focus graded Gaines as the 29th best cornerback in the league.
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Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson will need to be more consistent in their coverage, while Jeff Fisher and his staff will need to take a close look at the younger guys looking to show they deserve the reps now freed up by the injury to Gaines. Joyner has been spending this year’s training camp battling for nickel duties, but now he has been gifted this role. This means that the Rams will field a secondary with only players that are under the age of 26.
