Rams Placing DL Dominique Easley & OLB Obo Okoronkwo On PUP List

Rams HC Sean McVay told reporters on Tuesday that DL Dominique Easley and rookie OLB Ogbonnia Okoronkwo will start off training camp on the active/PUP list, per Myles Simmons.

McVay did, however, say that they anticipate Okoronkwo being activated from the list sooner than later.

Easley, 25, was taken with the No. 29 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. He was in the third of his four-year, $7.303 million rookie contract when he was cut loose by the Patriots in 2016 and later signed to a one-year deal worth $600,000 by the Rams.

Easley returned to the Rams last year on a first-round restricted tender worth $3.91 million for the 2017 season. However, he suffered a season-ending ACL tear last summer and was placed on injured reserve.

The Rams re-signed Easley to a one-year deal, $1.85 million this past March.

Easley’s career has largely been marred by injury, as he appeared in just 22 games over the course of his three years in the NFL with all three seasons ending with him on injured reserve. In college, Easley tore both of his ACLs while playing for Florida, so there were obvious concerns about injuries with him.

In 2016, appeared in all 16 games for the Rams and recorded 35 tackles, 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and a pass defense. Pro Football Focus had him rated as the No. 26 interior defender out of 127 qualifying players in 2016.

Okoronkwo, 23, was taken with the No. 160 overall pick in the fifth-round of this year’s draft by the Rams. Los Angeles actually traded up with the Broncos and sent two sixth-round picks to Denver as part of the deal to select Okoronkwo.

Okoronkwo underwent foot surgery a few weeks after the draft.

During his four-year college career at Oklahoma, Okoronkwo recorded 162 tackles, 33 tackles for a loss, 20 sacks, five forced fumbles, two recoveries and five pass defenses over the course of 35 games.