camp reports, 8/4

jemach

For what it’s worth…friend of mine talked with Chris Long…who said the drafted guys on the OL are going to be more than good. He did not point one of them out. By the way, that conversation was after the first day of camp.

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12intheBox

My first camp experience.

Before I get into the meat and potatoes – a few words about the experience. The Rams do a good job of making it nice and fan friendly – there are games for the kids, a guy selling beer and water (at reasonable prices), cheerleaders welcome you in, and the players make themselves pretty accessible. It is, however, not very easy to see everything that is going on. I have even more respect for Coach O, Hammer, RamzFanz, and everyone else who gives us these reports practice after practice. Most of the work for this practice was done on the middle field – which puts about 75 yards between the fans and the action. Some drills were on the near field, but not very much. To add to the fun, some players don’t wear their numbers. Tavon was wearing #1 and Quinn was wearing #2 (at least I’m pretty sure that was Quinn) – if it wasn’t, we have a bad ass new defensive end out there.

Ok – on to the report.

I got there early because I like roasting in the sun and got myself a good spot. Foles and Mannion came out early to warm up. They started out at 10 yards and worked their way out. Before I get too into this – let me preface this with an admission – I am a Mannion guy – I was before the draft and I still am – so its possible that I am seeing what I want to see out there – having said that – Mannion looked like he had the better arm watching the two warm up. Foles was using a lot more effort especially in his lower body to cover the same distances and Mannion looked effortless.

The DBs came out to warm up next and its just flat out obvious that Jenkins is the cream of that crop. His fluidity – especially moving backward – is fun to watch. Trumaine Johnson sure looks fit. He is long and he looks like he has put some work in this offseason.

I next saw the centers put in some warmup work and it took about 10 seconds for me to declare Rhaney the center of the future. Barnes looked kind of lethargic about the drill and Jones looked stiff. It wasn’t much of a drill, by the way – it was just snap the ball and take a step and a half to either the right or the left. Probably not the drill to declare a position solidified but that was my impression. Wang was just kind of hanging out. : )

After warmups, practice started with some PAT / FG work. Not the most exciting moment of practice – but Greg does crush it.

Then the Defense came to the near field. Without going into every drill – cause I can see that this is going to turn into a novel in no time, let me cut to my impressions.

Brokers looks massive this year. He has length that the other guys don’t seem to have out there.

Aaron Donald is just unblockable – he beats people with speed and power and until his guy is beat, there is no way of telling which one he is going to use. He also practices all out – he was hitting the sled like the Super Bowl was on the line.

JL55 is the first one to every drill and he is the one that sprints over to grab the equipment for each drill. I have been critical in the past but he is a leader out there – and watching the way he practices, I want the guy on the team for his entire career.

I was expecting more fire – this being the first practice in full pads – I thought the guys were somewhat lackadaisical at first. They were doing some tackling drills but it was clear they had been instructed to work on form and go at less than 50%.

They did hit the heavy bag a bit – not wrapping it up – just flying in with a shoulder on it. I saw good thumps from Joyner and Ogletree but the best hits of the drill belonged to Montell Garner and Jay Hughes (neither of whom are likely to make the team)

Dunbar had an impressive practice – he had some swagger out there – I did see him a step late in recognition on one drill, but I also saw him after practice go out and take extra time hitting the sled from his knees – he was banging that thing hard and it was clearly gassing him. He isn’t going to lose his playing time without a fight.

Speaking of that – Ayers has good length and sure has strong looking legs. He didn’t flash much in the drills, but it was a small sample size anyway.

Mo Alexander had a really nice practice. He looks like he belongs out there and he seems to know it. He seemed to have a nose for the ball and I saw him sniff out a cutback nicely in a drill.

Eugene Sims looks bigger. He was bringing it in the 1 on 1s late in practice with really good hand usage – but he just looked noticeably bigger – especially up top.

Joyner looked quick and he looked comfortable – but he is small out there. He gave up a completion up top to Cook that he was in good position for. It was just an unfair size advantage – something the Rams will need to make sure other teams can’t exploit.

Christian Bryant needs to make this team. He had a pick 6 and he seems to have instincts out the wazoo. Several times I saw smothering coverage and went to check the number – it was him. If all practices are like this practice, he needs to be with the 1s.

Nick Fairley didn’t flash much – and I was looking for him to show something. I had to go hunt for his number – but part of that is a DT thing and most of the action was too far away to appreciate the play of either line. There was a skirmish in the 1 on 1s and I’m pretty sure he was the catalyst – but I could be wrong.

On to the offense …

For those of you looking for fantasy advise – Jared Cook is the Ram to own this year (sans Gurley) I saw a drop that should have been caught – but he just gets so many targets. Maybe this is what they were working on today or something – but Foles looks his way early and often.

Quick looks like he is game ready. I saw him using his body to shield off defenders, high pointing the ball, and moving around really well.

Britt is the energy – and when he makes a play – he lets you know. Saw him beat Jenkins who was in good coverage just by going up over the top on a nice deep ball from Foles.

Tavon didn’t show much today. I saw him either run a poor route or get badly under thrown on one ball and on another I saw just flat out miscommunication. I hope it clicks soon for him but I didn’t see it today.

Givens returned kicks behind Bam Bam, but I didn’t see much on the field. He did, however, come over and give a pair of gloves to a young fan which was nice.

Kendricks looked pretty good – he is a fluid route runner and he is bigger than I remember.

Bailey caught what was thrown to him but I didn’t see many opportunities for him. Quick, Britt, Cook, and Kendricks are so big that they just kind of command attention out there – I’ll try to focus a bit more on Steddy on Thursday.

I really wanted to see the O Line but I couldn’t see much from so far away during the 11 on 11. The 1 on 1s were on the near field and I got a better look then. Hard to know what a 1 on 1 really tells you about an O Lineman – but here goes …

The Jamon Brown hype is well deserved. He is a lot lighter on his feet than I would have expected – and he seems to be playing w confidence out there. I guess he saw what coach Fisher had to say about him.

Haven stein seems like a bend but not break kind of guy – I saw a few guys try to bull rush him and he didn’t exactly stop them in their tracks but he did stay in their way. I think these two on the right side are going to do fine.

Barrett Jones looked pretty good in the 1 on 1s – stoning Westbrooks twice in a row – and Westbrooks got a bit chippy about it afterwards

I really wanted to see G Rob and couldn’t get a good view until the 1 on 1s when I saw him beat Quinn twice – the second time just tossing him out of the way. (Assuming Quinn is the mysterious #2 – he is, no one else has that walk) I will be watching Mr. Robinson closely on Thursday.

Donnal looked like a rookie in the few snaps I saw – I saw him hold Worthington on one play and then got bullrushed by him on the next rep. Brokers later just abused him on one rep.

Garrett Reynolds got the best of William Hayes from what I saw and is a lot bigger than I thought in person.

Saffold got beaten twice in a row but it was Aaron Donald – so what do you expect in a 1 on 1? However, I did later on see Travis Bond beat Donald and Fairley (followed by a small skirmish) Back to Saffold – I stood next to him after practice – dude is really really big.

Brandon Washington looks like an appliance out there – he just looks like a big old block out there. I saw him doing some kickoff return work and for a guy his size, he moves pretty well.

I didn’t get a good look at the centers in the 1 on 1s – I tried, but they were moving thru them pretty quickly. My notes say that Tim Barnes had a win – but I couldn’t tell who it was against. I must have missed Rhaney in the 1 on 1s because I don’t have any wins or losses for him in my notes.

As for the backs …. let me start w Gurley. Holy Guacamole is he a specimen in person. His body reminds me of SJ39 but he is so much lighter on his feet. He was doing work on the side in the near field so we got a nice long look at him – mostly just some sprinting – but we all need to be excited for when they cut the cord.

Tre Mason had a very nice practice. He caught a few balls out of the backfield, one on a wheel route where he had nothing but daylight. He was decisive and ran with authority. He was used a lot more in the passing game – and he seemed to be pretty good at finding the soft spot and being a safety valve.

Bam Bam had a few nice moments himself – both as a runner and a receiver – but wasn’t in the same class as Mason.

Pead finally caught my attention when he dropped a pass by looking up field before he caught it. That was about it from him.

As for the QBs, Foles got most all of the reps and then they would rotate the other 3 QBs in. Foles is aggressive – he pushes the ball and take shots down the field. When he isn’t going deep, he is looking for Cook – although Cook gets his deep looks too. Foles threw a few picks – but thats part of being aggressive.

I saw Mannion make his progressions but he seemed to err on the side of caution going for his escape valve – who was mostly Rodriguez – who struck me as an Amendola like player – just always in the right place. Mannion doesn’t seem to panic when the rush comes – but lets see what he looks like when he isn’t wearing a red jersey.

Davis and Keenum just looked like guys to me.

After practice, I saw Chase Reynolds doing extra work on blitz pickups with McQuaide. Chase is not very big at all – not up top and not down low. His success as a special teamer must come from what is between his ears and what is inside his chest.

Havenstein also did extra work after practice just working on coming out of his stance in passing situations.

Sorry this was so long – as an out of towner myself, camp reports mean a lot to me and I wanted to do my part and not leave anything out. I’ll be back on Thursday and there on Friday for the scrimmage.

badnews

Last year I watched Tru go down in camp and it lead to a great season for Gaines.

This year I had a great(?) view of Gaines injury… it felt like dejavu.

Tru is plenty good enough that the outside CB spot should be fine. Hopefully Gaines is ok but if he’s out for a bit it would be awesome if Joyner can step up his game and produce the way EJ did last year.