PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : RAMS : Crooms Dealt to Packers for Draft Pick

When safety Chris Crooms reported to the Ram locker room at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday afternoon to have his ankles taped for practice, he was tapped on the shoulder.

“They said the coaches wanted to see me, and my first thought was I was traded,” Crooms said. “I started my goodbys with the guys.”

Crooms learned he had been dealt to Green Bay for an undisclosed draft choice.

“I think it’s great,” Crooms said. “I’m sitting here looking at a book with Green Bay’s situation at safety, and it appears they are thin. It will be a good opportunity.”

The Rams open the regular season in Milwaukee against the Packers on Sept. 5.

Crooms, a fifth-round pick in the 1992 NFL draft, played in 16 games last season as a reserve. “The trade was made because we have a surplus at the safety position,” Coach Chuck Knox said.

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The Rams continue to be plagued by misfortune at wide receiver.

Richard Buchanan, who started against the Phoenix Cardinals in the exhibition at Tempe, Ariz., last Saturday, left the practice field on a cart after injuring an ankle. Knox said X-rays would be taken.

A short time later, wide receiver Lynn James came up limping. Knox, however, did not consider the injury serious.

Knox also downplayed an ankle injury suffered by running back Jerome Bettis, the Rams’ No. 1 draft choice, in the afternoon practice.

Cornerback Darryl Henley will not play against San Diego on Saturday night at Anaheim Stadium because of a sore shoulder.