It’s been trending this way all week, and head coach Sean McVay essentially confirmed on Friday that barring any setbacks, cornerback Aqib Talib will play in Sunday’s game against the Lions.
“He’s going to go,” McVay said. “As far as how many snaps, we don’t know that quite yet, we kind of have an idea, but you can expect him to be ready to go.”
Talib went through full practices on Wednesday and Friday, as well as walk-thrus on Monday and Thursday. McVay said earlier this week that Talib’s Sunday workload would depend on a number of factors. But it is worth noting that in Los Angeles’ first game of the season, Talib was on the field for each of the Rams’ 70 defensive snaps. Talib played only 70 percent of snaps in the Week 2 shutout victory over the Cardinals, as L.A. removed its starters late in the contest.
Talib himself said Friday that his ankle is feeling good — adding that if it were up to him, he’d have been playing a couple weeks ago.
“I think I was thinking about it too much the other day,” Talib said following practice. “Felt good today. Today’s probably the best it felt.”
Los Angeles will need to make a move to officially get Talib off injured reserve and on the active 53-man roster.
Defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh was not on the practice field for Los Angeles on Friday, but McVay said the former Lion will be good to go.
“He got the day off, really nothing injury related,” McVay said. “We expect him to be ready to go, just being smart with him as a veteran player.”
Notably on the other side, running back Kerryon Johnson did not practice once again on Friday with a knee injury. He was officially sidelined in each of Detroit’s the three days of practice, and is officially listed as out.
Below is the full Friday injury status reports for both teams. Any individual not listed is expected to play.
LOS ANGELES RAMS
No injuries to report
DETROIT LIONS
OUT
RB Kerryon Johnson (knee)
FB Nick Bellore (Ankle)
WR Brandon Powell (Calf)
QUESTIONABLE
WR Bruce Ellington (Back)
LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin (Neck)
DOUBTFUL
TE Michael Roberts (Shoulder)
