X-rays negative on Rams’ Donald
Los Angeles Rams star defensive tackle Aaron Donald received good news Sunday.
Initial X-rays on Donald’s injured ribs came back negative for a break, NFL Network reported. The two-time Defensive Player of the Year was also expected to undergo an MRI on Sunday to determine the severity of the injury.
Donald was injured while tossing QB Russell Wilson to the turf early in the third quarter during the Rams’ 30-20 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday in an NFC wild-card game.
Donald, 29, registered 13.5 sacks for a Rams defense that finished No. 1 in the NFL in scoring defense and total defense.
HENDRICKSON, FORMER 49ERS, CAL LINEBACKER, DIES >>
Steve Hendrickson, a feisty linebacker at Cal in the late 1980s who went on to play seven seasons in the NFL, died Friday at the age of 54. Hendrickson was a two-sport star at Napa High before going to Cal.
No cause of death was given.
Hendrickson was MVP of the 1988 Blue Gray All-Star Game. A native of Napa, Hendrickson was a sixth-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in the 1989 NFL draft.
Hendrickson played 100 games over seven NFL seasons with five teams. SMITH WILL TAKE TIME TO PONDER NFL FUTURE >> Washington Football Team QB Alex Smith said he’s going to take some time to ponder his future in the game.
Smith made an inspirational recovery from a devastating compound fracture suffered in a game against the Houston Texans in November 2018 — one that required 17 surgeries to treat the injury and a life-threatening infection — to lead Washington’s charge to the playoffs in 2020, but a calf injury kept him out of Saturday’s wild- card loss to Tampa Bay.
He told reporters Sunday that this season was a thrill.
“I had so much fun this year, especially given all the COVID stuff,” he said. “But to be back in the locker room, to be on the field with the guys, to be playing a game I love and to lose yourself in it, it’s one of the greatest feelings in the world.
“And for me, I’m going to take a few weeks. My wife has been through a lot and my family, certainly I’m going to take their input.”
Smith, 36, was 5-1 as the starter on a team that finished 7-9 — good enough to win the NFC East. Washington started the season with Dwayne Haskins at QB, then turned to Kyle Allen, who went down with a seasonending dislocated ankle in Week 9.
Undrafted QB Taylor Heinicke started Saturday’s playoff game. Smith said he understood coach Ron Rivera’s decision to start Heinicke but that watching from the sidelines was “difficult.”
LEAGUE TO DECIDE SOON ON FORMAT OF SCOUTING COMBINE >>
The fate of the 2021 NFL Scouting Combine could be decided within the next week, ESPN reported.
The annual event, which gathers NFL prospects in a central spot for workouts and interviews with team officials, has been up in the air amid the pandemic.
The 2020 event was held in Indianapolis beginning in late February, before the sports world shut down because of COVID-19.
ESPN said league officials have been discussing whether to hold a reduced combine in Indianapolis in February, move it to April or hold regional combines designed to reduce travel.
The timing of the combine could force the NFL to alter the dates of the draft, which is scheduled to be held April 29-May 1 in Cleveland.