Former Ohio State safety Jordan Fuller receives devastating news

Los Angeles Rams safety and team captain Jordan Fuller will miss the postseason this year after suffering a fourth-quarter ankle injury against the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday, one which may require surgery. Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic reported the bad news on Monday.

Fuller serves as the defense’s play caller, making the blow even more devastating. He had a team-leading 113 tackles, five pass break ups and an interception this year, his second season of professional football.

The New Jersey native was a two-time team captain at Ohio State and earned first-team all-Big Ten honors in 2019. Over a four-year career in Columbus, Fuller had 216 tackles, 10 passes defended, five interceptions and three fumble recoveries. He was a sixth-round draft selection in 2020.

Rams’ secondary struggles

In addition to Fuller, safety Taylor Rapp is in concussion protocol, which means Nick Scott and Terrell Burgess are the next available players on head coach Sean McVay’s defense and will need to step up for the Rams’ matchup this weekend against the Arizona Cardinals.

“Nick Scott’s done a nice job playing in that (role),” McVay said, per Pro Football Talk. “I thought Terrell Burgess came in and did a really good job as well yesterday. So we’ve got a couple candidates and a lot of that is predicated on, ‘All right, what kind of personnel groupings and the approach and the best way that we feel like we want to try to defend the multiple looks that Arizona can present?’”

Also in Rams’ secondary news, cornerback Darious Williams suffered a shoulder injury and is being evaluated this week. If Fuller, Rapp and Williams are out, that would be an obviously huge challenge the Rams secondary on Monday.

As a result of the 27-24 overtime loss to the 49ers, the Rams are now the No. 4 seed for this year’s playoffs. They still won the NFC West because Arizona fell to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. It is Los Angeles’ third division title under McVay.

Cardinals-Rams kicks off at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN as the Monday Night Football playoff game of the week. Los Angeles is a 4-point favorite, and the teams split their two regular season games. The Cardinals lost all three games they played in primetime this year.