Rams stars Puka Nacua, Myles Garrett take crucial first step toward return

Nypost · Aug 18, 2026 · 516 words · By Michael Duarte

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What to know about Rams stars Puka Nacua, Myles Garrett take crucial first step toward return

The Los Angeles Rams got two of their biggest stars back on the field on Tuesday, but neither participated in practice.

Claims checked 12

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center75%

Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

The Los Angeles Rams got two of their biggest stars back on the field on Tuesday, but neither participated in practice.

Why it matters

Wide receiver Puka Nacua and defensive end Myles Garrett returned to the field as the Rams continued preparations for the 2026 season, but both remained spectators when the team portion of practice began.

Common ground

Instead, Nacua, who is dealing with a psoas injury, and Garrett, who is nursing a knee issue, worked individually off to the side with members of the Rams’ staff.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Rams stars Puka Nacua, Myles Garrett take crucial first step toward return?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that neither participated in practice?
What happens next if the deal stalls, and who has the power to restart talks?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/08/18/sports/rams-injury-update-puka-nacua-myles-garrett…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 12 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 5

info Single Source 3

schedule Pending 2

help Insufficient Evidence 1

verified Verified By Reference 1

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Claim 1: “neither participated in practice”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm they did not participate in the team portion of practice. One source states they 'remained spectators when the team portion of practice began', and another notes Garrett was 'held out' while Nacua 'left the workout early'.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2024 NFL season was the 105th season of the National Football League (NFL). The season began on September 5, 2024, with reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City defeating Baltimore in the NFL Kick…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_NFL_season

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2026 Pro Bowl Games was the National Football League (NFL)'s all-star game for the 2025 NFL season. This was the fourth and final year the event has consisted of a non-contact flag football game, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Pro_Bowl_Games

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Confer…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Rams

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 2: “Allen appears to be nearing the finish line in his recovery from a quad injury”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of irrelevant YouTube help pages and a link to Zhihu, with no mention of Davis Allen or a quad injury.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — 知乎，中文互联网高质量的问答社区和创作者聚集的原创内容平台，于 2011 年 1 月正式上线，以「让人们更好的分享知识、经验和见解，找到自己的解答」为品牌使命。知乎凭借认真、专业、友善的社区氛围、独特的产品机制以及结构化和易获得的优质内容，聚集了中文互联网科技、商业、影视 ...
https://www.zhihu.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — Enter your password. From the list, select YouTube. If your channel is connected to a Brand Account, click your icon in the top right of the page. You can choose the page with the YouTube content you …
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6159254?hl=en

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web search NEUTRAL — Official YouTube Help Center where you can find tips and tutorials on using YouTube and other answers to frequently asked questions.
https://support.google.com/youtube/?hl=en

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Claim 3: “Allen... should be available for the Rams Week 1 season opener against the San Francisco 49ers in Australia”

CORROBORATED

Although the specific claim index 8 evidence was empty, the evidence provided for claim 1 explicitly mentions the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers in 'Melbourne, Australia'.

info

Claim 4: “Nacua, who is dealing with a psoas injury”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of irrelevant search results regarding Outlook email aliases and contains no information about Puka Nacua's medical condition or a psoas injury.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — 3 days ago · That is why, in this guide, I will show you exactly how to create an email alias in Outlook using multiple methods. Whether you use the web or access your account on the desktop client.
https://www.systoolsgroup.com/how-to/create-email-alias-in-o…

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web search NEUTRAL — Sep 6, 2026 · Keep using the newer Outlook.com account separately. Microsoft does not support merging two Microsoft accounts. If the goal is only to show the new married name on the account, change th…
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5995746/…

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web search NEUTRAL — Jul 9, 2026 · Learn how you can add more than one email address, called an email alias to users in your Microsoft 365 organization.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/email/…

info

Claim 5: “Garrett wore shoulder pads as he went through his workout. Nacua did not.”

SINGLE SOURCE

Only one specific web search result ('Rams injury update: Puka Nacua, Myles Garrett take key step toward...') mentions the detail about shoulder pads (Garrett wore them, Nacua did not). No other independent sources corroborate this specific detail.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2023 NFL season was the 104th season of the National Football League (NFL). The regular season began on September 7, 2023, with defending Super Bowl LVII champion Kansas City losing to Detroit in …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_NFL_season

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025 NFL season was the 106th season of the National Football League (NFL). The regular season began on September 4, 2025, with reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia defeating Dallas in the NF…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_NFL_season

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2026 season is the Los Angeles Rams' 89th in the National Football League (NFL), their 90th overall, 60th in the Greater Los Angeles Area, seventh playing their home games at SoFi Stadium and thei…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Los_Angeles_Rams_season

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 6: “The Rams will be off on Wednesday before holding a joint practice with the New Orleans Saints at their facility in Woodland Hills on Thursday”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 7: “The Rams also shuffled their wide receiver room on Tuesday, signing Alex Bachman for a second stint with the team and waiving/injured Mario Williams”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided or found in the search results regarding the signing of Alex Bachman or the waiving of Mario Williams.

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Claim 8: “Garrett, who is nursing a knee issue”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm Myles Garrett has a knee injury, including reports of him being sidelined for training camp/preseason and needing arthroscopic surgery.

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web search NEUTRAL — A knee injury that sidelined Garrett for most of training camp and preseason practices had to be a major concern for coach Sean McVay and defensive coordinator Chris Shula going into the 49ers game. I…
https://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/story/2026-09-13/myles-g…

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web search NEUTRAL — Myles Garrett had zero sacks, and zero tackles, in the Rams' Week 1 loss to the 49ers.Now, Garrett will miss at least the next four games on injured reserve. He is eligible to return Oct. 18 against t…
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7590089/2026/09/13/rams-myl…

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web search NEUTRAL — Myles Garrett will have to wait a few weeks to play his second game with the Los Angeles Rams. According to The Ringer and Netflix's Tom Pelissero, the Rams' star edge rusher needs to undergo arthrosc…
https://www.aol.com/articles/myles-garrett-undergo-knee-surg…

+ 1 more evidence source

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Claim 9: “offensive lineman Justin Dedich, sidelined since the beginning of training camp with a broken hand suffered on the Fourth of July, also worked individually on Tuesday”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm Justin Dedich suffered a hand injury around July 4th and returned to practice/worked individually after being on the Non-Football Injury list.

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web search NEUTRAL — Up until today, Dedich had been on the Non-Football Injury List since July 25 due to a hand injury that happened around July 4. McVay on July 28 initially described Dedich's injury as a "hand accident…
https://www.therams.com/news/injury-updates-ol-justin-dedich…

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web search NEUTRAL — Rams lineman Justin Dedich suffered a hand injury before training camp, but it was not related to fireworks.
https://clutchpoints.com/nfl/los-angeles-rams/rams-news-la-o…

+ 1 more evidence source

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Claim 10: “Wide receiver Puka Nacua and defensive end Myles Garrett returned to the field as the Rams continued preparations for the 2026 season”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm that Puka Nacua and Myles Garrett returned to the field during preparations for the 2026 season. One web result explicitly states they 'returned to the field as the Rams continued preparations for the 2026 season'.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The NFL Top 100 Players of 2026, honoring the best NFL players of the year, is the sixteenth season in the NFL Top 100. It premiered on June 22, 2026, and concluded on September 3, 2026. Los Angeles R…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_Top_100_Players_of_2026

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025 All-Pro teams were named by the Associated Press (AP), Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA), and The Sporting News (TSN) for performance in the 2025 NFL season. Any player selected to any o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_All-Pro_Team

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+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 11: “Bachman is a native of Westlake Village and returns to the organization that originally signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Wake Forest in 2019”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 12: “Rams’ head coach Sean McVay said both players remain day-to-day”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While sources confirm Sean McVay is the coach and that the players were injured, none of the provided evidence contains a quote or statement from McVay specifically saying they are 'day-to-day'.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2024 season was the Los Angeles Rams' 87th in the National Football League (NFL), their 88th overall, 58th in the Greater Los Angeles Area, fifth playing their home games at SoFi Stadium and eight…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Los_Angeles_Rams_season

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sean Patrick McVay (born January 24, 1986) is an American professional football coach who is the head coach for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He became the youngest NFL h…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_McVay

+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.