THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Rams are "supporting" defensive lineman Ethan Westbrooks, who was arrested over the weekend for allegedly driving with a stolen gun, first-year head coach Sean McVay said.
McVay, addressing the matter on Wednesday, said the team is still gathering information and that Westbrooks is "going through the week of practice, the week of preparation, with the expectation to play" in Sunday's road game against the Dallas Cowboys. Westbrooks still is listed by the team as a starter on the defensive line, along with Michael Brockers and Aaron Donald.
Westbrooks, initially pulled over for speeding, was booked in Kern County Jail in Bakersfield, California, on Friday night after an officer found a handgun in the vehicle that had been reported stolen eight years ago and was loaded with 13 rounds of ammunition. Westbrooks was booked on five felony charges -- receiving stolen property, carrying a loaded firearm, carrying a stolen loaded firearm, grand theft of a firearm and possessing a high-capacity magazine -- and has an arraignment scheduled for Oct. 5.
"I trust Ethan," McVay said. "When he talks to me and he looks me in the eye and tells me what happened, I trust him. ... What we've heard from him, you feel like this will get settled. You want to try to avoid these, but really, until more information comes out with respect to the process, we kind of want to just keep it at that."
