Van Jefferson to have knee surgery on Tuesday

The Los Angeles Rams were dealt their first injury of the 2022 calendar season with Van Jefferson scheduled to undergo knee surgery Tuesday morning, per head coach Sean McVay.

Though the procedure is considered to be minor, the third-year pro is likely to be sidelined for multiple weeks and his status for the Week 1 opener against Buffalo is in jeopardy.

It is an unfortunate setback for the former Florida Gator as he had surgery in the offseason on the same knee after the 2021 season. While the news is far from ideal, the “positive” is that Van will have the opportunity to play this year due to the minimal invasive procedure. Even though the team has no definite timeline on his possible return, my initial expectation is that he will actually miss the first few weeks of the regular season. With this being a “2nd injury” to the knee, I expect LA to be careful and to bring him along at a comfortable pace.

Jefferson was set to be the team’s No. 3 WR in the passing game, and his void now leaves Tutu Atwell and Jacob Harris as the prime candidates to replace him, especially considering Van was the deep threat this past season.

In his press conference to media, McVay alluded to the team trying to continue negotiations with Odell Beckham Jr. with the latest WR opening.

Other injury news for Los Angeles entails the status of Matt Stafford. McVay commented that Stafford is still experiencing some pain in his throwing elbow where he received an injection. The pain is not considered significant and that he could “push through it” but the team will limit his workload to manage the situation moving forward.