Saffold decides on shoulder surgery & other tweets

I think that’s it for me.

Thanks for trying, Rodger. Enjoy your next career.

Rodger Saffold needs shoulder surgery, out for season

Nick Wagoner
ESPN Staff Writer

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13895516/rodger-saffold-st-louis-rams-rest-season-shoulder-injury

EARTH CITY, Mo. — St. Louis Rams guard Rodger Saffold will miss the remainder of the 2015 season because of a right shoulder injury, coach Jeff Fisher said Thursday afternoon.

“He’s going to require season-ending surgery, unfortunately,” Fisher said. “Our doctors agreed with the second opinion, and so it will take place in the next couple of days.”

The Rams placed Saffold on injured reserve, which means he will miss the rest of the season.

Saffold is scheduled for surgery with Dr. Frank Cordasco from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, according to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Caplan. Cordasco repaired Saffold’s left shoulder in January.

In addition, Fisher announced tight end Lance Kendricks had surgery Monday to repair a torn ligament in his finger. He had been playing with the injury since Week 1.

Kendricks isn’t expected to be out long, but Fisher indicated he could be questionable for the team’s next game against Cleveland on Oct. 25. Tight end Justice Cunningham was promoted from the practice squad to take Saffold’s spot on the roster.

Veteran Garrett Reynolds will step into one of the starting spots at guard in Saffold’s place. With Saffold out, Reynolds instantly becomes the team’s most experienced starting lineman. He’s played 57 games at right tackle and both guard spots since entering the league in 2009.

Saffold also had offseason surgery on his left shoulder after suffering a similar injury — and continuing to play with it — last season.

The Rams and Saffold, after getting a second opinion, decided it was best not to again play through the injury. With the projected recovery time, the Rams believe Saffold will be back to 100 percent around February or March.

“Once we got both opinions together, he was willing to try to play, but inevitably it’s going to come out again when you’re talking about the condition of the shoulder,” Fisher said. “So we just felt like for career-wise, future-wise, it’s best to get it fixed. He fought through it with the left shoulder last year, and we fixed it when the season was over. So we’re getting an earlier start.”

Saffold’s latest injury adds to a growing list of ailments since coming to the NFL in 2010. He’s only twice played a full season, and the Oakland Raiders called off a free-agent contract with him in the 2014 offseason after he failed a physical because of left shoulder concerns.

After the Oakland deal fell apart, the Rams wound up re-signing Saffold to a five-year, incentive-laden deal worth up to $42.5 million. His $4.5 million base salary for 2016 becomes guaranteed on March 11. Additionally, the Rams still have $3 million of Saffold’s original $5 million signing bonus scheduled to count against the cap in $1 million increments over the next three years.

Running back Trey Watts was signed to the practice squad in Cunningham’s place.

i’m ok with reynolds. saffold wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire this season anyway.

and they got some good developmental prospects for next season.

InvaderRam wrote:

i’m ok with reynolds. saffold wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire this season anyway.

IMO Boudreau does well with players like Reynolds. If you look back, guys like Richardson and Turner were fine on tha OL in the 2nd half of 2012 that was getting Jackson 4.3 a carry and keeping the sack percentage down to 4% (which is phenomenal in Rams history…the last Rams qb to get that percentage was in the mid 80s.) It wasn’t a great line but it was an effective one. Yet neither Turner nor Richardson had done anything before and didn’t do anything after. So I just think PB knows how to use guys like that effectively. He may be one of the ones it doesn’t work with, but still, there are many it did work with in PB’s history.

At this juncture I think Reynolds is a good add-on, because if nothing else, as you say, Saffold was struggling this year. Reynolds may be better for the OL than RS at this point. If nothing else I notice that that article stresses his leadership…RS at his best was a very good guard (before this year anyway) but he never struck me as being the kind of leader Reynolds apparently is.

TrenchRam wrote:

The Raiders are feeling pretty good about themselves about now.

Not really. People are turning the Raiders thing into urban legend. They said they thought the left shoulder needed surgery. In fact Saffold got that surgery. The Raiders said nothing about the right shoulder or RS’s injury history in general. They just said, no we don’t like his left shoulder. Assigning them this blanket insight isn’t accurate. If the left shoulder had already been surgically repaired they would have signed him. Then they would have been stuck with the later, different right shoulder injury.