On January 14th in the NFC Wild Card Game, Los Angeles Rams long-time starting tight end Tyler Higbee tore his ACL and MCL due to a low hit. Given the timing and the severity of the injury, it should not come as a surprise that he would miss some time at the top of the season.
It was reported on Tuesday that the team would keep Higbee on the PUP list (Physically Unable to Perform). NFL rules dictate that players on the list at the beginning of the season must miss at least the first four games of the season.
When Can The Los Angeles Rams Expect Higbee To Return?
Higbee was drafted by the Rams in 2016 in the fourth round of the 2016 draft out of Western Kentucky. He is the longest-tenured member of the team. Last season, he was target 70 times and caught 47 passes for 495 yards. It was his least productive season since 2018.
Each injury is unique but looking back to two prominent cases of this injury are Rob Gronkowski and Adrian Peterson. Both took almost exactly nine months of recovery before getting back on the field. Using that as the yardstick, Higbee would be available for the Rams’ October 20th game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Distinctions to be made are Higbee’s age, 31, compared to 25 and 26 for Gronkowski and Peterson. But those surgeries were performed over a decade ago. Rams’ preferred team surgeon Neal ElAttrache has been pushing the field of sports medicine with advancements in technique and recovery time.
At the time of the publication of this article, the Rams have five other tight ends on the roster; Colby Parkinson, Davis Allen, Hunter Long, Miller Forristall, and Nikola Kalinic. The front runners to make the 53-man roster are Parkinson, Allen, and Long.
Parkinson was earlier this year via free agency. He is listed first on the Rams’ ‘unofficial’ depth chart.
