Like many men of a certain age, Matthew Stafford is dealing with a sore back.
The Los Angeles Rams quarterback will begin training camp in a limited capacity, working off to the side, head coach Sean McVay said on Tuesday when players reported for camp. The coach downplayed the injury, suggesting it's not expected to be a major issue moving forward.
"Matthew's feeling good. He had a little bit of soreness in his back that kind of crept up. He's been throwing, feeling good, it's not anything that's necessarily new, it's something he's dealt with before," he said.
"Going into Year 17 we were going to take a modified approach with him, kind of similar to what we did in the offseason program, so we'll allow him to just work kind of off to the side on his own, get himself feeling as good as possible, and then he'll be ready for block 2, which will really represent once we finish the five-day acclimation period. He feels good about that, I feel good about that, and ultimately it's about having him feel as good as possible mentally, physically, emotionally, going into Year 17."
Considering he's 37 years old, it's not a surprise that Stafford might need a little more of a ramp-up period to training camp than the rest of his younger teammates. This situation sounds less ominous than the 2022 offseason when Stafford dealt with a lingering elbow issue that led to arm fatigue and curtailed his camp.
McVay's willingness to put a five-day timeline on Stafford highlights that the team views it as a minor issue. If the Super Bowl-winning QB isn't back at the anticipated time, then eyebrows can be raised.
