Tutu Atwell hasn’t made much of an impact as a rookie, playing just one offensive snap and returning two punts for 9 yards. To make matters worse, he might be sidelined this weekend against the Cardinals after he came down with an illness and missed the first two days of practice.
Sean McVay said Friday that he doesn’t know if Atwell will be able to play on Sunday, which would leave the Rams without their primary punt returner.
“A lot of it is predicated on how quickly they turn over,” he said. “It’s always a little bit of a different approach with a rookie. It’d be one thing if this was a veteran player that you knew could come in on short notice. I’m not saying Tutu is not possible to do that, but you’re a little bit more leery with those approaches with guys that haven’t accumulated the experience as some of our other veterans.”
McVay was then asked who would fill in for Atwell, and he named two players: DeSean Jackson and Cooper Kupp. It’s not definite that Jackson will return punts, but McVay seems excited about that possibility.
“We’ll talk about those things, but have you seen him return punts? He’s pretty damn dynamic,” McVay said with a smile. “There is a possibility of that, but we’re working through all those things in the meantime right now. The contingency plans are we’ve got two guys from the receiving corps outside of Tutu that we both feel good about their ability to make good decisions, good things happen when the ball is in both those guys’ hands and those are the two candidates that would be in the immediate conversation.”
Jackson has only returned six punts since 2018 and nine total since 2014, so he hasn’t had much practice in that department during the later stages of his career. But when he was younger, he was electric in the return game, taking back four punts for touchdowns from 2008-2010.
The Rams need to keep him healthy so putting him in harm’s way as a punt returner may not be the best strategy, but he’s a playmaker whenever he touches the ball.
