Day One

QB-Sam Bradford took all of the usual reps a #1 would take. He has a knee brace but it is smaller and less bulky than I expected. His movement seems okay and footwork was not compromised.

He had some really nice passes, one deep out to Britt in particular early on in 7 on 7. However on passes where the receiver ran from side to side and cleared when he came out of the middle Sam clearly had a lot of trouble with his timing and missed almost all of those. There were also two picks up the seam where it looked like he was expecting the receiver to break off and square in. It was either a mis read, not being on the same page or communication problem. What really bothered me on both is that first Bailey and then Givens failed to either fight back for the ball, adjust or make any kind of play on the ball.

The defense definitely looked ahead of the offense in shells.

Hill hit Emory Blake a receiver out of Auburn that was both in camp last year and the practice squad on a really nice timing route early on in practice. To his credit he looks like he has a stronger arm than Clemons and is more patient in the pocket.

Gilbert has some footwork problems especially at the top of his drop, he tends to hop, and shuffle his feet and doesn’t transition smoothly into his release. But the ball does come out quickly and accurately and he has some zip. He apparently missed a read early in 7 on 7 and got chewed on pretty good by the QB coach Frank Cignetti.

Austin Davis seemed to have some promise as a rookie and has totally squandered it, very inaccurate and has gone from a #2 hopeful to camp fodder.

RB-They were in shells and its hard to get any kind of reading on them from that. Stacy was taking reps with the punt return unit and I doubt he stays there.

Tre Mason has quick feet in drills and a bit of a pop for his size

WR/TE-If I had to pick one standout it would be Britt with Quick a close second. I understand all the skepticism over Quick and I share but he stayed low on his cuts and didn’t present such an easy target and even caught a pass in traffic with hands waving all around him. What I saw in Quick last year was that any time a linebacker or corner could jump into his vision and distract him he would drop it….today they tried to do that and he caught it. I make no claims any further than that but………

Quick and Britt went everywhere together, the Rams showed a package with Cook, Kendricks and Quick and Britt. I really hope that package works and prospers. Bailey and Givens both failed to fight back or even make an attempt on a pair of interceptions.

Harkey ran a nice route to the flat and Davis underthrew him badly early only to come right back to him and get a good catch.

Cook got a lot of one-one attention both before practice and after. They were lobbing him a tennis ball back and forth early and he had a coach in his pocket all day long.

Emory Blake flashed at times last year and did today as well.

A tight end named Justice Cunningham a 1st year player out of South Carolina got a lot of reps and was called out by the coaches several times, long dreads and some quicks over the middle. He only goes 258 but has some promise.

Oline-Scott Wells was in a ball cap and stayed on the sidelines most of the day. The Oline went to the sand pit at one point and Jake Long did take part in some of those drills.

I have never witnessed the Rams do this uphill drill where two linemen are pushed up a hill by one guy. I took several pictures of it and they did it right in front of me. The size and strength of those guys is incredible that close.

GRob took reps at LT in team drills but then toward the end of practice they shifted to the rookies battling one-one at the far end of the field. He moved inside and went against Aaron Donald. Donald whipped him badly on the first rep. I always want to see a kid learn from that and he did and countered very well and stymied Donald on the second.. I hope to see Donald take some reps at tackle in that drill tomorrow.

DLine-For the most part it is still wide 9 but they do bring down the DE on the strong side on some fronts and keep the weak side DE out wide.

They have the ability to really mess with itty bitty QB’s in Seattle with Carrington, Brockers, Conrath and even Hayes in the middle.

Except for the one time that Donald was stalemated by GRob he had his way with the camp fodder in the line drills. He even bull rushed Demetrius Rhaney out of Tennessee State at one point and shoved him all the way back to what would have been the QB

Linebackers-Ogletree had an exceptional play in 11 on 11 in pass defense undercutting route with a great drop and tipping it away. From what I have heard Gregg Williams loves above all others Alec Ogletree and TJ McDonald. I have been able to meet a couple of new Rams staffers and all are raving about Williams

DBacks-Brandon McGee had a great play early and then got ripped into later by Brandon Fisher when he blew a coverage, at least he did not look lost like last year.

I have hopes still for Matt Daniels and he looked really good in the special teams drills early on, numbers seem to stack against him though.

Maurice Alexander and Marcus Roberson look athletic and fluid. They are two I really want to see in pads.

Joyner back pedals like a corner and has flips his hips smoothly to pursue.

Special Teams-They have a camp punter named Bobby Cowan………

At some point Daren Bates did something to really piss off the coaches, it was away from me and I did not get a good look at it. I heard rather than saw that Britt was doing some jawing with the defense and some of the coaches…..which is all the better.