Professor

STLtoday - Sports - Rams

Turns out cornerback Tye Hill’s injury is worse than initially reported. Hill will be sidelined for four to six weeks after suffering an injury late in Thursday’s practice at Rams Park.

Hill suffered fractured bones in his lower back, but also suffered broken ribs in a collision with teammate Oshiomogho "O.J." Atogwe while trying to defend a pass.

Although Scott Linehan disputed earlier reports that the injury would last four to six weeks, team sources said the initial diagnosis was two to three weeks. But once it was discovered that Hill also has broken ribs, the prognosis for his return was lengthened to four to six weeks.

Under Linehan, practices are closed to the media after the first 30 minutes, so there were no media members on the practice field when Hill went down. The Rams did not include Hill on their official Thursday injury report, not even under the "limited participation" category.

After Thursday’s practice, Hill was seen walking around the locker room at Rams Park and talking to teammates.

Lenny Walls will start in Hill’s place, with rookie Jonathan Wade coming off the bench in nickel situations. Ron Bartell continues to start at the other corner. In the nickel, Bartell slides inside to cover slot receivers with Wade playing outside at cornerback.

With only three healthy corners on the 53-man roster, the team plans to promote undrafted rookie Darius Vinnett to the active roster for Sunday’s game against San Francisco. Fakhir Brown still has three games remaining on a four-game suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy.

__________________