The St. Louis Rams placed wide receiver Donnie Avery on season-ending injured reserve Sunday, three days after he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in Thursday night's preseason win against the New England Patriots.
Coach Steve Spagnuolo had previously said Avery will not immediately undergo surgery.
"They'll let it calm down, and then at some point he will have surgery," Spagnuolo told the *St. Louis Post-Dispatch*. "He was having a terrific game. Donnie's a quality guy and a character guy, and we'll miss him."
Avery, who led Rams wide receivers with 47 catches in 2009, was hurt with 1:32 left in the first half of Thursday night's preseason game against the New England Patriots. He jumped for Sam Bradford's long pass down the right sideline, fell and clutched his knee as the ball dropped incomplete.
Avery, a second-round draft pick out of Houston in 2008, had 53 receptions as a rookie and started 28 games in his first two seasons. He caught two passes for 48 yards Thursday before being injured.
The Rams are now in search of a wideout to start opposite Laurent Robinson.
"Probably between Danny (Amendola) and Mardy Gilyard, and a couple of the guys we could flip over there (such as) Keenan Burton," Spagnuolo told the Post-Dispatch. "We're going to wait a little bit before we declare any of that, but certainly somebody's going to have to step up there."
The team might look beyond the roster for help.
"We're always looking for players; (general manager Billy Devaney) has been on top of that and will continue to do it," Spagnuolo said. "But I can't go on a ghost body right now, so I'm just going to go with the players we have here."
Also on Sunday, the Rams released offensive lineman Joe Gibbs, defensive back Marcus Brown and running back Jamie McCoy and announced that tacke Phil Trautwein is expected to miss five to seven weeks with an MCL injury.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
