The Los Angeles Rams were only down one starter due to injury on Monday night against the Oakland Raiders as Mark Barron was unable to play due to an Achilles injury. Missing the game wasn’t a big deal, but the reasoning is certainly concerning.

It’s not that Barron suffered an injury in practice or training camp prior to the game. He didn’t aggravate one of his many ailments from last season. It was simply a matter of him not being recovered from an injury that bothered him late in 2017.

No one’s doubting his toughness. He played through Achilles, shoulder, thumb and knee injuries last season, undergoing surgery on his shoulder this offseason. He was beaten, battered and bruised toward the end of the 2017 campaign, and clearly, he hasn’t yet recovered from the Achilles issue.

That’s a major concern moving forward, especially after hearing Sean McVay discuss Barron’s availability for Week 2 on Tuesday.

“It’s tough to say. He’s kind of day-to-day right now. It’s such a tough thing as far as being able to really project and predict what he’s going to be able to do. Whether he’s going to be available or not right now, I think is definitely questionable,” McVay said. “I’ll probably have a little bit more information on that as we go forward.”

Barron didn’t practice for the first time until Aug. 20 after missing all of training camp. He sat out the entire preseason and didn’t take the field once in practice prior to Week 1 against the Raiders. He wasn’t even limited after McVay said for weeks that he was on track to play the season opener.

Again, this isn’t a question about toughness or mental strength. No one is knocking Barron for sitting out Week 1. It’s the nature of the injury that’s so worrisome. The unpredictability of the injury puts the Rams in a difficult position because, as McVay said, Barron could be feeling good for a week and then terrible the next day.

“It’s something that sometimes you feel really good and then out of nowhere it might flare up,” McVay said last week. “So, what we’re doing is we’re just taking it a day at a time. He wasn’t able to do anything yesterday. But, I think that’s something that will be determined later on in the week. But, to say it’s a concern, is fair for sure.”

This seems like it’s going to be a week-to-week thing for Barron all year long. He might practice one week and sit out the next. He might play three games in a row, suffer a flare-up and miss the next two starts. There’s really no consistency with this sort of injury, which makes it so difficult to manage.

Barron was supposed to be the only returning starter at linebacker this season after a complete overhaul of the position, but even he isn’t certain to play this week or the next. You hate to speculate, but what is there to suggest he’ll play anytime soon?

For the time being, Ramik Wilson will replace Barron in the starting lineup. He’s a capable player with starting experience, but he doesn’t provide the same pass coverage that Barron does. Micah Kiser could get a chance to start, but he’s more of a run stopper than a rangy coverage guy.

Reading between the lines of McVay’s comments and seeing Barron sit out every practice last week after returning to the field in August, it’s easy to get worried about when he’ll actually play. McVay doesn’t sound confident it’ll be this week, but who knows if it’ll even be Week 3. The following week, the Rams take on the Vikings at home on Thursday night, giving Barron another short week with which to work.

There’s no telling when he’ll return, which is a real concern for the Rams.