Rams CB E.J. Gaines is finally ready to play again

Rams CB E.J. Gaines is finally ready to play again
By Alden Gonzalez

[www.espn.com]

IRVINE, Calif. -- Players who miss significant time to injuries will often come away saying the recovery process went by much faster than they anticipated. Not E.J. Gaines, the Los Angeles Rams cornerback who missed the entire 2015 season recovering from foot surgery.

"It feels like five full years, honestly," Gaines said. "Not playing for a full year definitely took a toll on me."

Gaines is finally on his way back now, cleared for full-speed activity and getting ready to play in Saturday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Los Angeles Coliseum. It'll mark Gaines' first game action since Dec. 21, 2014, the end of a solid rookie season that included 15 starts, a team-high 14 pass breakups and four takeaways as the Rams' second cornerback, opposite the recently departed Janoris Jenkins.

The 24-year-old suffered a severe Lisfranc injury -- when one or more metatarsal bones are displaced from the tarsus -- during the third training camp practice last year. Gaines had two surgeries -- one to insert screws in his foot and one to remove them. And he watched most of the Rams' games on TV, never quite knowing if he would regain his starting role.

"I expect myself to step up and play better than I did as a rookie," Gaines said. "Most definitely. No steps backwards. No excuses for surgery or foot injuries. Just keep it going from where I left off."

The Rams will need him to.

Jenkins, the leader of the secondary, is gone, having signed a five-year, $62.5 million contract with the New York Giants. Stalwart safety Rodney McLeod is gone too, via a five-year, $37 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. Trumaine Johnson -- the man whose preseason knee injury paved the way for Gaines to start opposite Jenkins in 2014 -- has moved into the primary cornerback spot. And now Gaines is competing with the likes of Lamarcus Joyner, Coty Sensabaugh and Marcus Roberson for the No. 2 spot.

"E.J.'s got the starting experience," Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. "We've just got to get this foot thing behind him."

Gaines proclaims that it is. He spent a couple of weeks dealing with a hamstring issue, which prompted him to miss the preseason opener against the Cowboys, but that has since healed, too.

Now it's all about getting reacclimated to game speed.

"You can simulate it as much as you’d like in practice, but nothing is really like the game time," Gaines said. "That’s why Saturday’s going to be it. ... It took a long time. It’s been a long time coming to get back out here on the field, so I’m just excited."