Rams’ Avery tears ACL, out for the season
The St. Louis Rams and Coach Steve Spagnuolo’s suspicions were confirmed as receiver Donnie Avery suffered a serious knee injury and will miss the 2010 season. Avery tore his ACL after falling very awkwardly in the Rams’ preseason game against the New England Patriots on Thursday night.
Avery led the Rams with 47 receptions last year. His knee is still heavily swollen and Spagnuolo said Avery will wait for the swelling to go down before undergoing surgery. Avery was injured when he jumped high to receive a long pass before landing on his right leg as it freakishly twisted sideways.
Patriots’ receiver Wes Welker went over to Avery as he was being carted off the field and extended his hand to the fallen Ram. Welker himself suffered a torn ACL in last year’s season finale and underwent major surgery in the offseason. He is now back on the field looking as good as ever and certainly will wish Avery a good recovery; that recovery will be long though as this type of injury typically takes at least six months to heal.
“We'll lose him for the season, which is very unfortunate," Spagnuolo said. "He was having a terrific game. Donnie's a quality guy and a character guy and we'll miss him."
The Rams were already very thin at the wide receiver position and now that is one less target for rookie quarterback Sam Bradford to throw to. The Rams will now likely have to explore trade possibilities with other teams if they want to have a respectable passing game this year. There’s also the possibility that they can wait until the draft in April to sign the top receiver. It is definitely possible for the Rams to get that chance as they will likely struggle again this season.
Bradford looked great in his first start of the preseason but losing Avery will not help him and the Rams. The market has gotten very thin at wide receiver with very few free agents left.
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