Stafford's health "certainly an issue"

Rams QB Matt Stafford's health is "certainly an issue," ESPN's Dianna Russini reports. Stafford is dealing with elbow pain and a chronic back issue, per Russini. Stafford has looked banged up on a few occasions this season and struggled in his last 2 outings prior to the bye. He's not listed on the Week 12 injury report, and we're not altering Stafford's projections vs. the Packers today. But his health will be worth keeping a close eye on the rest of the way.

Rams QB Matt Stafford (elbow) threw in full-team, 11-on-11 work in Tuesday's practice for the 1st time in training camp, ESPN's Sarah Barshop reports. The Rams have Stafford on a pitch count as he deals with a right elbow issue that we still don't know much about. But if the team was truly concerned, they wouldn't have him throwing at all in early August. We'll continue to keep an eye on this situation, but it hasn't impacted our Rams projections yet.

Rams HC Sean McVay spoke about QB Matthew Stafford's right elbow issue on Thursday. McVay called it "a tricky deal," "abnormal for a QB” and "things that MLB pitchers deal with," per The Athletic's Jourdan Rodrigue. McVay added that the team explored different treatment options to alleviate the pain this offseason and that the team wasn't caught off guard by the situation when camp opened. “Could he (push through)? Yes. Is that the best thing? We didn’t think so," McVay said. Here's Rodrigue's take after listening to McVay: "While arm pain is never NOT a concern my sense is after some treatment early spring they decided to go with this onload/deload plan which has been on schedule per McVay." Until we hear that the pain in Stafford's elbow is gone -- or at least know exactly what he's dealing with -- he'll carry some elevated risk in fantasy drafts. His situation, of course, also impacts Cooper Kupp, Allen Robinson and the rest of the Rams' skill-position guys.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports that Rams QB Matthew Stafford is "not expected to throw a lot over the next couple of days" to rest his right elbow. Rapoport says the issues has been described to him as "bad tendinitis" and that Stafford had a platelet-rich plasma "type" of treatment over the offseason. That apparently hasn't had the desired effect, as Stafford's throwing arm remains an issue. "Long term everybody in LA thinks this is gonna be fine," Rapoport says. Of course, the fact that he says "thinks" as we're well into the 2nd week of training camp remains cause for concern.

Rams HC Sean McVay said Monday that QB Matt Stafford still has "a little bit of pain" in his throwing elbow. Stafford had an injection in that elbow shortly after the Super Bowl and didn't throw at all during the spring. He's thrown some in camp but was held out of team drills on Monday. "We just want to be really smart with somebody that is as important as our quarterback is," McVay said. "[We want to] put together a plan that we feel like is in his best interests and our team's best interests." The Rams continue to downplay this situation. But when a QB is still experiencing pain in his throwing elbow in August, we're on alert.

Rams QB Matthew Stafford gave a lukewarm update on his throwing elbow Saturday: “It’s coming along. I’m kind of right where I want to be and just continue to get it feeling better. Get it stronger. You just lose those reps through the offseason and [I’m] trying to gain some of those reps back at the moment.” On one hand, it’s nice to not get an overly positive/optimistic update from a player on his injury. On the other, we’d love to hear that Stafford is further along. We’re still not altering our outlook, but we’ll be tracking the situation throughout August