Rams 'lean toward' having Baker Mayfield available to play Thursday against Raiders

Baker Mayfield sat next to Rams coach Sean McVay on a flight to the 2018 NFL scouting combine.

On Thursday, the new Rams quarterback could be standing beside McVay on the sideline when the Rams play host to the Las Vegas Raiders at SoFi Stadium.

But will Mayfield play with only two days of preparation?

McVay said Wednesday that he would “lean toward” having Mayfield available but stopped short of saying Mayfield would play.

“It would be unprecedented from my experiences because of everything that a quarterback’s asked to do, to bring him in in such a short period of time and have him go out there,” McVay said during a videoconference. “But I do think he would be capable of it if we asked.

“But we’ll take that really one day at a time until” Thursday.

The Rams on Tuesday claimed Mayfield off waivers from the Carolina Panthers, adding the top pick in the 2018 NFL draft to a team that is 3-9 and has lost six games in a row.

Matthew Stafford is on injured reserve because of spinal cord contusion and is expected to be out for the rest of the season. Backup John Wolford is nursing a neck injury, and he is questionable for Thursday’s game. Bryce Perkins also could start against the Raiders (5-7), who defeated the Chargers last Sunday to extend their winning streak to three games.

McVay indicated that the opportunity to sign Mayfield was too good to pass up.

“When you have a player of his caliber come available and you look at just the circumstances and the situation surrounding our quarterback room, we felt like it was the right move for us,” McVay said.

Is Mayfield, who will earn $1.4 million the rest of the season, a possibility as a long-term backup for Stafford?

“There’s an excitement about being able to work with him for what we know is five more weeks,” McVay said, “and whether he plays in five games or four games is to be determined.

“But I’m excited about that, and I think as we continue to accumulate that information that kind of will answer itself.”

Mayfield, 27, played four seasons with the Cleveland Browns before he was traded last summer to the Panthers.

Mayfield has started 65 NFL games and has a 30-35 record. This season, he has passed for six touchdowns, with six interceptions. He was sidelined because of an ankle injury when the Rams defeated the Panthers on Oct. 16 at SoFi Stadium, the Rams’ last victory before their current six-game losing streak.

Mayfield has not played since Nov. 20, when he completed 21 of 33 passes for 196 yards, with two interceptions, in a 13-3 defeat to the Baltimore Ravens.

“Nobody is perfect, and the quarterback position I believe is the most difficult position in all of sports,” McVay said. “But this guy's got the physical capacity, the mental makeup that I think to be a really good player and I think that's been illustrated in certain spots.”

On Tuesday, after they were informed by coaches that Mayfield was joining the team, Rams players said they looked forward to his arrival.

“I know he’s going to do a great job when he comes in,” receiver Van Jefferson said. “He’s going to do the best he can to learn things as fast as he can.

“I know he’s going to hop on that and be a guy that just works.”

Mayfield won the Heisman Trophy in 2017 while playing at Oklahoma. USC coach Lincoln Riley, who coached Mayfield at Oklahoma, texted McVay after the Rams acquired the quarterback. Riley “can’t speak highly enough” about Mayfield, McVay said.

Nearly five years ago, McVay came away similarly impressed after speaking with Mayfield on their flight to Indianapolis for the combine.

“From my interaction with him and even just watching him from afar,” McVay said, “[he’s] a really smart, sharp, cerebral player that has a great competitiveness to him that you can't help but like.”

McVay said the Rams did not claim Mayfield to block the San Francisco 49ers, an NFC West rival and potential Super Bowl contender that lost quarterbacks Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo to injuries.

“If it was maybe a different circumstance for where our team was at, then maybe that would be something,” McVay said. “But it is exclusively a result of just where we're at and how important it was.”

The acquisition of Mayfield is only one of the latest comings and goings during the Rams’ lost season.

Running backs coach Ra’Shaad Samples has left the staff and reportedly will take a job as passing game coordinator for Arizona State. Thomas Brown will work with running backs and tight ends.

McVay also said it was likely that offensive lineman David Edwards, who has been on injured reserve because of multiple concussions, would not play the rest of the season.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.