When will Tutu Atwell be activated? 'There are a lot of factors'

Sean McVay strongly suggested Tutu Atwell would be back for the Los Angeles Rams in Week 13 after the wide receiver missed four games while on injured reserve. But when the time came for the team to activate him, he remained on IR.

It was an unexpected development considering McVay’s comments last week, but at this point, nothing should be a surprise when it comes to Atwell’s role. Essentially, he was a healthy scratch and there’s no telling when he’ll actually be activated off IR this season.

McVay was asked whether Atwell will play this weekend against the Arizona Cardinals and he couldn’t give a definitive answer yet. That’s because the Rams need to cut someone from the 53-man roster in order to make room for Tutu, so it’s a numbers game.

“We’ll see,” McVay said. “It's one of those deals, like I told you guys afterwards, I love Tutu. I love everything he's about. I would like to be able to figure out a way to get him going and get him involved if that fits for the collective, relative to the 48. There are a lot of factors in that. Once we get going on the game plan, we want to try to be able to figure out how to do that, but we have to have some other things that are in alignment before I can give you a clear-cut answer on it.”

Atwell signed a $10 million contract this offseason, which was fully guaranteed for one season. It was an indication that maybe – just maybe – he’d finally be a full-time player for the Rams but he’s played more than 50% of the snaps only once this season and has only four catches all year.

Xavier Smith had three catches for 82 yards in Sunday’s game alone, while Jordan Whittington offers much more as a blocker and return specialist. Konata Mumpfield, the Rams’ fifth receiver, plays special teams, as well.

Atwell, on the other hand, does not. And his lack of a role on special teams is clearly impacting his chances of getting on the field as one of the Rams’ 48 active players.

“He’s done everything he can control. What's unfortunate is you get a hamstring and you're out for an extended period of time and then certain roles and rhythms are established relative to special teams and how Chase [Blackburn] and Ben [Kotwica] are fielding certain groups where you're pulling from both offense and defense. What does that look like with some of the mid skill that you have from running backs, tight ends and your inside backers? There are a lot of layers to it. Some of which, he just has no control over. That's the unfortunate thing. We want to be able to figure out how to get him up. It's just a matter of what it looks like that isn't exclusive to him, but how it affects a lot of different things that have to do with teams, different positions, how many guys you're going to carry whether it be from your defensive line, from your outside linebacker room or from your backend. There are a lot of moving parts relative to figuring out not only your 53, but more importantly, your 48 and your guys that have a jersey on game day.”

It's disappointing that the Rams can’t figure out a way to get a $10 million receiver on the field, even if he doesn’t play special teams. If he was valuable enough to the offense, he would have been activated right away.

But it’s clear the Rams feel confident enough in Smith, Whittington and Mumpfield to keep Atwell inactive for the time being until there’s an injury or a change of plans on offense or special teams.

It’s not the season Atwell or the team envisioned but this is where things stand with five games remaining.

This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams unsure when Tutu Atwell will be activated off IR