WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – Rams offensive lineman Kevin Dotson was estimated as a limited participant in Wednesday's practice, marking his first step toward a possible, but anticipated, return from his ankle injury this Sunday against the Bears in the divisional round of the playoffs.
"Feeling great man," Dotson said Wednesday. "It's one of those things that's day-by-day, but it's feeling great every day. It's feeling way, way better compared to what it was at the beginning, so I'm ready to try it out at least."
Given Los Angeles only conducted a walkthrough Wednesday afternoon, head coach Sean McVay said Thursday's practice will give the team a real gauge of how Dotson's ankle is feeling, "but he's got a good look in his eye" and that "his intentions are to be able to go play and go do his thing" on Sunday.
"We take it day-to-day, and we have a lot of tests that we have to go through first before we can truly assess it," Dotson said.
Dotson has been sidelined by that ankle injury since Week 17, sustaining it the prior week in the Rams' Thursday Night Football loss to the Seahawks in Seattle. Dotson said he felt like he was initially hurt from getting run into, and wasn't aware he had been stepped on by Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall until two days later. Hall's actions drew a one-game suspension without pay from the NFL.
"Because I gave him the benefit of the doubt," Dotson said. "Because my teammates were like – I'm thinking he accidentally stepped on me, and I'm not going to make nothing out of it. And then I'd seen after the play, my dawg (center) Coleman (Shelton) fought for me, pushed for me, then he told me like what really happened and stuff like that. So I was like, okay, and if I would have knew that, I probably would have stood up. I didn't know somebody stepped on me and did all that until I had seen the film and stuff. But I would've knew that. ... I'm past it, I'm not going to hold nothing against him until I can see him (and) get my get-back. Not gonna step on nobody (though), I'll get it between the plays. But I'm fine, I'm fine."
If the rest of the week goes according to plan and brings McVay's optimism to fruition, Dotson's return would give back to the Rams offensive line the guard with the third-highest run blocking grade in the 2025 regular season (89.3), according to Pro Football Focus. His 86.4 offensive grade also ranked third overall among qualified guards by PFF.
"I mean, he's a mountain of a man," quarterback Matthew Stafford said. "He's a beast. When he was playing this year, I thought he was one of the best guards, if not the best guard in the league. So if we can get him back, obviously that would be a huge boost. His physicality, his ability to go out there and play is great, but also just the energy he brings. I know if you guys see him celebrating sometimes when we do good stuff. So he's a great guy to have out there and be around. But if not, I thought (Justin) Dedich played really well last week, and we'll roll with him again."
Dotson will do everything in his power to be on the field Sunday.
"Even the last game really, it was like, it hurt me to not be out there with my guys," Dotson said. "Even just to get our get back, I want to be there for that, and couldn't be there for it. So hopefully I can be here for this game, and I want to be able to make an impact."
