The Los Angeles Rams have been fortunate to keep a good portion of their core intact over the years, particularly when it comes to their veterans. Andrew Whitworth, Cooper Kupp, Jalen Ramsey, Aaron Donald and Leonard Floyd were all key pieces for several seasons, but Kupp and Donald are the only ones left from that group.
One of the benefits of having so many experienced veterans is that the Rams could give those players days off regularly and still know they’d be prepared for training camp and the season itself. That isn’t the case this offseason with nearly half of their 86-man roster being rookies.
As a result, Sean McVay sees the Rams taking a different, more intentional approach in practice before things ramp up for training camp in July.
“Significant,” McVay said of the difference the younger players have made on the coaching staff’s approach. “It’s a lot different because we get a chance to practice a lot more. There’s a real importance on, when we’ve had the continuity that we’ve had in years past, you can really say, ‘Hey, these guys have played a lot of snaps let’s make sure that we’re smart and cognizant of, alright, we just finished up in the middle of February. How do we get them ready to go by the time training camp and what’s the best way to supplement that?’ Whereas, ‘Hey, you get better at football by being able to play it and especially with a lot of guys that haven’t done that.’ So really this is the closest thing since 2018 in terms of actually doing some real team work.”
McVay noted that there are still rules the Rams have to follow in terms of how much they can do in practice this spring, but he seems to want to push his players more than in years past. That’s partly because the Rams have to, given the inexperience of the roster as a whole.
They’ll still be smart with players such as Donald, Kupp and Stafford as they return from injuries – and so as not to risk them getting hurt before the season starts – but those fighting for roster spots and positioning on the depth chart will get plenty of chances to prove themselves.
You still want to be smart just based on the parameters that are set around OTAs and things like that, but it’s very different and it’s refreshing. You got a lot of guys that are eager and excited about their opportunities,” McVay said. “I can’t say enough about the job our coaching staff has done and we know we want to continue to do that every single day from here on out.”
