This is not an injury that Rams defense can afford

Ernest Jones misses practice due to a knee injury, will he be able to play vs. Cardinals?

The Los Angeles Rams shared a bit of concerning injury news on Wednesday, as inside linebacker Ernest Jones has “knee swelling” per head coach Sean McVay and did not practice. The Rams face the Arizona Cardinals in a game that will have important relevancy to the NFC West standings, so L.A. will want to have all of their best players at their disposal. Especially someone like Jones, arguably the second-best player on the Rams defense.

The third-year green dot linebacker has 53 tackles in five games, tracking to post a career-high in spots. Jones already has eight tackles for a loss, double his total from 2022 in 17 games. He also has a sack and he had 15 tackles with three tackles for a loss against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 5. The Rams must have Jones available to have their best opportunity to stop a surprisingly efficient Cardinals offense that is second in the NFL in yards per carry, though Arizona won’t have running back James Conner.

L.A. is already using Christian Rozeboom as a second linebacker this season and will be down to him and Jake Hummel, if Jones is unable to go.