LOS ANGELES – A day after leaving practice early with a re-aggravation of a knee injury, Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua was held out of practice on Friday. But while the Pro Bowler will be listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks, the Rams remain optimistic he won’t have to miss time.

“I wouldn’t bet against this guy,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said. “My expectation is that he will do everything in his power to be ready to go and that’s the mindset we have.”

Speaking to reporters before Friday’s practice, McVay said Nacua hit his knee Thursday while going to the ground.

This is the third time Nacua has injured his right knee since August. The first came in a joint practice with the Chargers, again landing on grass. The second came in Week 1 against the Detroit Lions as Nacua slid to make a catch. He left that game at halftime with a sprained PCL and missed the next five games.

Nacua, who made a surprise comeback last week with a seven-catch, 106-yard performance, had an MRI on his knee after Thursday’s practice. The Rams (3-4) were pleased with the result, and while he’ll spend the time between now and Sunday trying to get the swelling in his knee down, Nacua won’t need any fluids drained.

“When you look at the picture, it was really encouraging structurally. But sometimes there can be a little bit of fluid, and then that can limit some of your mobility,” McVay said. “The hope and the expectation is that sometimes when you do that as a result of an injury, it scares you as much as anything, where maybe you’ve broken some scar tissue.”

While that has become a recurring issue for Nacua this fall, McVay said he doesn’t expect it to be something the second-year wide receiver has to deal with the rest of the season.

“Our hope is that it was more of a scare than anything,” McVay said. “And in such a short amount of time, you go down whether you have a history with the knee or not and how physical he plays and how hard he can go down at times, that can happen. I don’t anticipate that there will be anything that will be a problem.”

POINTER SHUFFLE

McVay ruled punter Ethan Evans out of Sunday’s game against the Seahawks (4-4) with an illness.

The Rams already signed Ryan Sanborn to the practice squad on Thursday as a precaution, but also added Ty Zentner to the practice squad on Friday. McVay said the day’s practice will be spent trying to determine who is the best option, not only as a punter, but also as a starter in the Rams’ punting operation.

“We’re going to figure it out today and you’ve got to be ready to roll,” McVay said with a wry laugh.

NOTES

Defensive tackle Neville Gallimore (stinger) has been ruled out for Sunday’s game.