The Rams have already moved on from Zech McPhearson.
On Saturday, Los Angeles terminated the cornerback’s contract with an injury settlement, ending a brief stint that began when the team signed him on Aug. 9.
The move was first reported by Rams On SI’s Blaine Grisak, and the transaction was later confirmed by CBS Sports, NFL Trade Rumors and Heavy. The team has not revealed the injury or the settlement amount.
McPhearson landed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury on Aug. 24, according to the team’s transaction log on CBS Sports and ESPN. Under NFL rules, a player placed on injured reserve before final roster cuts is done for the season unless both sides agree to an injury settlement. That’s what happened here, 12 days later.
The Rams’ thinking was pretty clear from the start. McPhearson was brought in as special-teams depth after the club waived injured corner Drey Norwood, NBC Sports reported at the time.
He appeared in the first two preseason games and recorded two tackles, with Grisak also noting an interception during that stretch. He did not play against New Orleans on Aug. 22, and Rams Wire reported he was held out of that home preseason game before the team placed him on IR and signed cornerback Steven Gilmore two days later.
That sequence said plenty about where McPhearson fit: a veteran option for coverage units and emergency cornerback help, not a guaranteed spot on the 53-man roster. With Los Angeles heading into an unusual Week 1 trip to Melbourne, the Rams needed a healthy body, not a season-long IR hold on a player who had not played a regular-season snap since 2022.
An injury settlement gives both sides a clean break. It ends the contract, pays the player a negotiated sum tied to the injury, and allows him to sign elsewhere once he’s cleared.
For the Rams, it also opens up a roster and cap spot before Thursday’s meeting with the San Francisco 49ers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with kickoff set for 5:35 p.m. PT on Netflix, per the club’s official schedule.
McPhearson’s path to Los Angeles had already been full of stops. The Baltimore native and Riverdale Baptist product began at Penn State before transferring to Texas Tech.
Sports-Reference lists 16 tackles across two seasons at Penn State, then 51 tackles in 12 games as a junior and 53 tackles with four interceptions in 10 games as a senior for the Red Raiders. That 2020 season earned him first-team All-Big 12 honors.
Philadelphia took him in the fourth round, No. 123 overall, in 2021. Over two regular seasons with the Eagles, he played 33 games and totaled 30 tackles, one sack and two passes defensed, according to Pro-Football-Reference.
Most of his work came on special teams, where he logged 325 snaps as a rookie and 362 in 2022. He was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in Week 1 of the 2022 season after two tackles and an onside-kick recovery in a 38-35 win at Detroit.
The injury setbacks started to pile up after that. CBS Sports reported that McPhearson tore his Achilles in a preseason game against Cleveland in August 2023 and missed the entire season.
Philadelphia waived him on Aug. 27, 2024.
Jacksonville added him to its practice squad on Sept. 10, 2024, then signed him to a reserve/future deal in January 2025. The Jaguars placed him on injured reserve on Aug. 13, 2025, and released him six days later, according to his transaction history and Sports Forecaster.
He spent the rest of 2025 unsigned, worked out for Indianapolis in early August 2026, and then got another shot with the Rams. That chance lasted 27 days.
Los Angeles does not lose a starter here. It loses a veteran who could help on special teams and provide depth at corner if needed.
Steven Gilmore and the rest of the secondary now absorb that responsibility heading into Week 1. McPhearson, once healthy, is free to sign with any team.
No club has been publicly linked to him since Saturday’s move.
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