Rams cornerback Derion Kendrick was arrested early Monday morning, head coach Sean McVay confirmed in his Monday afternoon Zoom call with reporters.

TMZ first reported Kendrick’s arrest on Monday. According to the outlet, Kendrick was pulled over in the early morning for a traffic violation and law enforcement found a gun and marijuana in the car. He was charged with a felony count of carrying a concealed weapon.

The Los Angeles Sherriff’s public inmate database shows that Kendrick was at booked 2:14 a.m., and shows no record of his being released from custody.

McVay said he was informed of Kendrick’s arrest Monday morning. The Rams are currently gathering information and spoke with NFL officials about the situation as part of standard operating procedures.

McVay declined to share whether Kendrick would be allowed to practice with the team or play against the Steelers on Sunday while the internal investigation continues. He also declined to share any details about how the Rams were going about their inquiries into the arrest.

“I’m just going to kind of leave it at that until I have all the appropriate information,” McVay said. “I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to speak on things that I don’t have the totality of it, other than knowing he was arrested early this morning.”

This is the first time McVay has dealt with an arrest of one of his players since taking over as Rams head coach. He said he hoped he could turn it into a teaching moment for the rest of the team, though he’s waiting to address it with the roster until he has better grasp of the facts of the situation.

“I don’t want to be quick to pass judgment before I know everything,” McVay said. “I care about these guys a whole lot, I want to continue to help them to make all the right decisions and try to avoid decisions like this. But I also know that life isn’t perfect. I’ve certainly made my mistakes, and how can we continuously educate guys on how to avoid these?”

Kendrick, a second-year player out of Georgia, has started all six games for the Rams this season and has recorded three passes defended and 20 solo tackles.

Running backs take a hit

The Rams’ first- and second-string running backs, Kyren Williams and Ronnie Rivers, are both expected to miss some time after leaving Sunday’s win over the Cardinals early with injuries.

McVay said it was too early to project how long Williams (ankle) and Rivers (knee) will be out, and the coach expects more information on their return schedules by Wednesday. But neither is expected to play Sunday vs. the Steelers.

The injuries are a big blow to the Rams’ running back depth. Williams took over as the starter in Week 2, prompting the trade of Cam Akers to the Minnesota Vikings. He had a career day in this weekend’s win over Arizona, rushing 20 times for 158 yards and a touchdown after being limited to two carries and five yards in the second half.

Rivers, meanwhile, is averaging 4.4 yards per carry in his reserve role.

Related Articles

The Rams are left with rookie sixth-round pick Zach Evans on the roster and Royce Freeman on the practice squad.

When Williams and Rivers left the game against the Cardinals, Evans got his first carry carries, taking the ball four times for 10 yards. He would seem like the natural fill-in while Williams and Rivers are out, but McVay made no such commitments on Monday.

“Working through a lot of those things right now,” McVay said. “We’ll probably have a little bit better idea once you get the full gauntlet of what it exactly is looking like projection wise on both Ronnie and Kyren, how that will affect any sort of decisions as it relates to the roster and then what it looks like for the landscape of the league.”