St. Louis Rams LB James Laurinaitis Leaves Practice with Injury

The St Louis Rams have announced via twitter that James Laurinaitis suffered an injury during training camp Tuesday:

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Rams LB James Laurinaitis has an "aggravated pectoral" injury. He's going to get an X ray per Spagnuolo.

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The problem with pectoral injuries is they tend to drag out for a few weeks, regardless of severity.  There is a chance that the injury isn't all that serious, and should that be the case, Laurinaitis will likely be back in a couple of weeks. 

Should it be something more severe such as a tear, then the Rams could realistically be looking at missing their defensive leader for as long as a quarter of the season. 

As of now, there is not much known about the injury, but chances are the Rams are going to need someone to fill in at middle linebacker for at least the preseason. 

The recent signing of veteran linebacker Ben Leber might help, but Leber is more adequately suited to play on the outside, as he is more of a coverage linebacker than a guy who can patrol the middle of the field. 

Josh Hull is also a guy the Rams could give playing time to in Laurinaitis' absence, but whether or not they would seriously consider giving playing time to a second-year linebacker who spent a large portion of his rookie season on the IR is unknown.

This is more of a wait-and-see type of situation, but considering how tough of a player Laurinaitis is, I would expect him back sooner rather than later.

This article was originally posted on RantSports.com.

UPDATE: Spagnuolo has reported that the injury is nothing more than a strain and Laurinaitis will be day-to-day.  You can breath now Rams fans.