There was a new face on the practice field for the Los Angeles Rams on Monday. Lance Dunbar, who has been on the PUP list all season with a knee injury, returned to practice this week. It was a non-padded session that wasn’t overly taxing on the players in their first day back from the bye, but it was still good to see the running back out there.

Now that Dunbar is back at practice, the Rams have an allotted amount of time to activate him to the active roster. That timetable is three weeks, which should give Sean McVay and the coaches plenty of time to determine if he’s good to go.

Technically, Los Angeles could’ve started that clock two weeks ago in Week 7 when Dunbar was first eligible to practice. McVay opted to wait until after the bye, which was smart, giving him additional time to evaluate the running back.

“I think what’s great about that timetable we have is it gives us a chance to evaluate him, see how he handles it,” McVay said. “He’s done a great job with his rehab and how the effects what we do on the roster is something that’s going to be determined moving toward the latter half of the week.”

Dunbar is understandably thrilled to be on the field again after missing just about all offseason with that knee injury, which he suffered in the offseason program.

“I was pretty excited and it felt great to do what I love to do, which is play football,” he said. “It felt good just to get back there with everyone, with my teammates, just to play football again — it’s been a while and I’ve been through a lot, so just to get back out there feeling good, it felt great.”

The question now becomes whether Dunbar can carve out a role on offense. The Rams’ running back group is pretty set in stone with Todd Gurley as the starter, Malcolm Brown backing him up and Tavon Austin filling in as a change-of-pace back.

Dunbar is almost strictly a receiver, contributing on third down. With Austin filling a similar role, it might be hard to get both players on the field. That’s the decision the Rams will have to make.

If Dunbar isn’t activated within the three-week window, he’ll stay on the PUP list for the remainder of the season, essentially making his one-year contract moot.