Rams' Andrew Whitworth to Be Put on IR with Knee Injury; Will Miss 6-8 Weeks

Los Angeles Rams offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth will be placed on injured reserve and is expected to miss six to eight weeks after leaving Sunday's 23-16 win over the Seattle Seahawks in the second quarter with a knee injury, head coach Sean McVay announced Monday.

"Whitworth had a grade 3 MCL/PCL, it will probably be something where he's out for a handful of time," McVay said, per Stu Jackson of the team's official website. "Whether that be six weeks, whether that ends up being eight weeks, you don't really know."

It is not expected to be a season-ending injury.

Whitworth told Jay Glazer of Fox Sports on Sunday that there was optimism after the initial prognosis did not detect a torn ACL, though his MCL and PCL were torn:

Though that's a promising sign, he must wait until further testing determines the exact nature of the injury. Initially, it appeared as though he feared he had suffered a serious injury as the 38-year-old was emotional as he was carted off the field:

He later addressed the situation on social media:

Now in his 15th NFL season, Whitworth was a mainstay on the Cincinnati Bengals offensive line for his first 11 years in the league. He's started all 16 games five of the last six years (he missed one game in 2017, his first with the Rams) and has not missed more than two matchups since 2008.

It's possible this injury opens up a spot for Joe Noteboom. Per Rodrigue, he stepped into the starting left tackle position when Whitworth left the game.

The 6'7", 330-pound tackle signed a three-year deal this offseason, insinuating he wanted to finish his career with the Rams.

"I wanted to stay here and play, and once I decided for sure and got the OK from the family and everybody else that we were going to play football again—there's no other place I'd want to be than here," he said in April, per Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times.

Joe Noteboom will start in Whitworth's place at left tackle.