Los Angeles Rams safety T.J. McDonald and running back Tre Mason, who are both facing criminal charges, were excused from the first two days of the team’s organized team activities for “personal reasons,” coach Jeff Fisher said.
McDonald was arrested May 10 in Woodland Hills on suspicion of driving under the influence of an unknown substance after allegedly crashing a vehicle into a park car, police said.
Mason was arrested March 5 in Florida and charged with misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana, reckless driving, failure to register a motor vehicle and resisting arrest. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Fisher said it was “quite likely that they will miss the OTA sessions,” which are scheduled to continue through June 16 and include seven- on-seven, nine-on-nine and 11-on-11 drills.
McDonald started 11 of the team’s first 12 games of 2015, when it was based in St. Louis, but missed the final four because of a shoulder injury requiring surgery.
Mason ran for 207 yards and one touchdown and caught 18 passes for 88 yards last season. He was listed second on the depth chart at running back behind Todd Gurley.
Also missing from the organized team activities is quarterback Nick Foles, who started 11 of the first 12 games in 2015, but was benched in favor of Case Keenum for the final four games.
“I’ve had conversations with Nick and we’re on the same page,” Fisher said today at the Residence Inn Oxnard River Ridge, where the organized team activities are being conducted. “We’re trying to work things out and that’s pretty much all I can say. These are voluntary.
“We have three quarterbacks on the field right now, it’s hard enough to get reps for all three of them. We’re in the process of sorting things out with Nick. It has nothing to do with him not wanting to come in and compete at all.
“He’s very, very competitive. We appreciate everything he did for us, and his leadership, his teammates miss him. But, I don’t have any more information other than we’re just trying to work things out.”
When asked if being “on the same page” with Foles means that he’s telling him to stay away because the team might try to trade him, Fisher responded, “I think Nick has the feeling that if things stay the same, he’s probably not going to be on the roster. But beyond that, it was more of a mutual thing.
“It’s not that we said don’t come, it was just saying, ‘Hey Coach, I would just rather stay away until we get things figured out,’ and I said, ‘I’m fine with that.”
—Staff and wire reports