LOS ANGELES – A defensive starter with the Los Angeles Rams was arrested within hours of the team defeating the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium in Southern California on Sunday.
Derion Kendrick, 23, is a starting cornerback with the Rams. He was taken into custody on felony gun possession charges early Monday morning, according to Los Angeles County Jail records, TMZ reported.
The defensive back was stopped by officers with LAPD’s Hollywood Division for a traffic violation. During the detention, police located an unregistered firearm and an “open container of marijuana” inside the automobile. He was arrested at 12:50 a.m. and booked at 2:14 a.m.
Since Los Angeles County recently implement a “zero bail policy,” he never saw the inside of a jail cell and was later released on his own recognizance, according to TMZ.
The Rams became aware of the arrest and Coach Sean McVay commented on Monday, NFL.com reported.
“We’re continuing to gather more information on that,” McVay said. “Until then, I’m gonna just kind of leave it at that until I have all the appropriate information. I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to speak on things that I don’t have the totality of it, other than knowing that he was arrested early this morning, and that’s kind of where we’re kind of at at that.”
McVay did not indicate whether he expects Kendrick to be available to play or practice this week, ESPN reported.
“Until I have all of the information, it’s hard for me to answer anything further with regards to his status, any of those types of things,” the head coach said.
Kendrick played collegiately at the University of Georgia before being drafted by the Rams in the sixth-round of the 2022 NFL draft, according to the New York Post.
He has appeared in 21 games for the team during his brief NFL career and has started each game this season.
Per normal protocol, the NFL will launch an inquiry into the alleged law violation.
