THOUSAND OAKS — It’s been a busy couple of weeks for Warren McClendon Jr. and Zach Thomas. With a series of injuries across the Rams’ offensive line, McClendon and Thomas have been running with the ones at practice.
For McClendon, that’s included reps against the likes of the Cowboys’ Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence and the Chargers’ Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack in joint scrimmages. “Those are good players, they’re at the top of their game,” McClendon said after Sunday’s preseason win over the Cowboys. “Any time you can get reps in against players like that, you gotta take advantage of them.
” McClendon and Thomas each played 46 snaps in the preseason opener at right tackle and left guard, respectively. Neither allowed a quarterback pressure in 25 pass blocking reps, according to Pro Football Focus, and both had good moments in the run game. McClendon agreed that last weekend’s performance was a good confidence boost, albeit against a different level of competition.
Saturday’s second preseason game against the Chargers will likely give McClendon and Thomas another opportunity to stack some reps ahead of the regular season. It’s possible the Rams opt to hold McClendon and Thomas out on Saturday; head coach Sean McVay said Thursday that he and his coaches would meet Friday to decide if they wanted to keep any additional players safely on the sidelines along with the core players who sat out last weekend. But McClendon, a second-year player, and Tho.