LOS ANGELES — Rams wide receiver Demarcus Robinson will play against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday following his Monday morning DUI arrest, head coach Sean McVay said on Wednesday.
McVay said the Rams will allow the legal process as well as the NFL’s investigation into the matter to play out before any kind of suspension is handed down. League inquiries typically take until after a player’s court date, McVay said, so any process would be deliberate.
“There’ll be some things that we deal with internally; I’ll keep that in-house with him,” McVay said. “Talking with him, I do think he understands the severity of this and how lucky we are that nobody was injured. I do believe that he’s remorseful.”
Robinson was pulled over on the 101 Freeway in Woodland Hills at 5:13 a.m. on Monday morning. He was driving in excess of 100 mph and “officers observed objective signs and symptoms of alcohol impairment,” California Highway Patrol said in a news release. He was arrested and cited for driving under the influence before being released to a responsible party.
McVay said Robinson was not driving to or from the Rams’ Woodland Hills facility.
Robinson spoke with reporters after practice Wednesday. He said he has not yet heard from the league about the arrest, and that he spoke with McVay on Monday afternoon about what had occurred.
“Just a bad decision by me, unfortunately,” Robinson said. “It’s always difficult when something like that go on for myself just having to bring negative light to them. It’s always tough to have that conversation but it just needed to be done. … Things like that is not natural for me in my nature or stuff that I usually do, so I just told him I sincerely apologize to him and the team and this whole organization for even putting myself and the organization in a predicament like that.”
Robinson also addressed the team as a whole during a meeting this week to apologize for creating a distraction.
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“Just to let the guys know we all make mistakes but hopefully we all can learn from it, not them having to go through it but just learning from my mistakes,” Robinson said. “That’s a bad decision, driving while impaired.”
“I don’t believe there was malicious intentions but God forbid if something were to happen to him or somebody else, that’s what we’re grateful for. I trust in my heart that I believe him and I know that he’s remorseful. I think forgiveness is a real thing,” McVay added. “I’ll tell you guys what I told him. There’s too many avenues for rides or Ubers or whatever it is and we gotta be smarter than that. I do trust that there was a genuine and sincere regret, remorse.”
Robinson is in his eighth NFL season and second with the Rams. He has 26 catches for 384 yards and six touchdowns this season.
NOTES
Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson did not practice on Wednesday with a foot injury.
Rams right tackle Rob Havenstein (ankle) was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice. McVay said Tuesday that he expects Havenstein to be able to play against the Saints.
Tight end Tyler Higbee (knee) was a limited participant in his first practice since his offseason ACL surgery.
Cornerback Charles Woods (ankle) was a limited participant on Wednesday.