Puka Nacua Injury: the Rams' Star Is Headed to Injured Reserve — and His Earliest Return Is Against the Cowboys

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Rams are about to lose their top receiver for at least a month, and the date circled at the end of his absence belongs to Dallas. Rams head coach Sean McVay told reporters on Monday that wide receiver Puka Nacua will likely be placed on injured reserve with sprains to the medial collateral and posterior collateral ligaments in his right knee, plus turf toe, according to Rams Wire's report of McVay's update, read in full by this desk. Nacua was hurt on the Rams' final offensive snap of Sunday's 20-13 win over the Washington Commanders, on a jet sweep, and underwent an MRI on Monday; the team did not believe he had torn his ACL, and the imaging confirmed sprains rather than a tear.

Injured reserve carries a minimum four-game absence, and the Rams' Week 11 bye does not count toward it — which is why the calendar lands where it does. Nacua, who has 70 receptions for 715 yards and four touchdowns this season, would sit out at least the next four games, and the earliest he can return is Week 15, when the Rams host the Dallas Cowboys on December 20, according to the Yardbarker and DraftKings Network reports read this run. That is an earliest-possible date, not a promised one: two ligament sprains plus turf toe can linger, and no source read this run guarantees he plays that day.

For the Cowboys, the timing cuts both ways. Dallas hosts San Francisco on Sunday and works through its own injury list this week, but its December trip to Los Angeles now carries a question it did not have on Sunday morning: whether the receiver who led the league in receptions will be back in the lineup for that game. The Rams, meanwhile, are thin at the position — Davante Adams is already on injured reserve — and McVay said the team will explore all avenues, including trades, before Tuesday's 3 p.m. CT deadline, according to Particle's report read this run.