Once again, Sean McVay won't put his key players in harm's way during preseason action.
If you thought McVay might reconsider his past approach to the preseason, given that he's breaking in a new quarterback, think again. Asked on the Doug Gottlieb Show whether Matthew Stafford would see action this preseason, the Los Angeles Rams coach responded with a heck no. Not this year, not ever.
"There is zero chance you will ever see Matthew Stafford take a snap in the preseason for the Rams as long as I'm the coach. That will never happen," McVay said, via Cameron DaSilva of the Rams Wire. "He is not going to play. That's why it's important for us to try to get competitive 'opps' against some of these other teams in practice settings. Practicing against the Cowboys this Saturday. Get the Raiders twice. So we're always looking for those things. Until you tell me that if a guy gets hurt in the preseason that we'll get those games back or they'll add them on the schedule afterwards as, 'Oh yeah, you get two games because you lost those guys in the preseason,' it's hard for me to make sense of it."
Since becoming the Rams coach, McVay has punted on the preseason, using it to give the bottom-of-the-roster players reps rather than prep his starters for the season. Not having a preseason at all last year didn't change McVay's mind on the usefulness of the ramp-up games.
When the Rams kick off the preseason Saturday, Aug. 14, against the Chargers, expect Stafford, Andrew Whitworth, Jalen Ramsey, Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, and any other veteran not battling for a roster spot to be milling on the sidelines sans pads. 'Tis the way in L.A.
