Q&A: Rodger Saffold on the Rams’ bad times, Sean McVay

Q&A: Rodger Saffold on the Rams’ bad times, Sean McVay and esports success

https://theathletic.com/686084/2018/11/30/qa-rodger-saffold-on-the-rams-bad-times-sean-mcvay-and-esports-success/

As​ the senior member​ of the Rams,​ nine-year​ veteran offensive​ lineman​ Rodger Saffold​ has​ seen​ it​ all. He has​ witnessed the​​ really, really bad times from 2010 to 2016 and the good times of the last two seasons.
That gives him a unique perspective. He appreciates the team’s current success as well as the process and sacrifice it took to build the team nearly from the ground up.
Through it all, the 30-year-old has emerged as one of the best left guards in the NFL and become a powerful voice inside the Rams locker room.
Off the field, Saffold has gained notoriety as an esports Call of Duty franchise owner. His team — Rise Nation — was co-founded in 2014 and finished as high as fourth place in the Major League Gaming playoffs.
Saffold recently sat down with The Athletic to talk about his Rams journey, head coach Sean McVay and his involvement in esports, among other things.
As the senior member of the Rams you’ve obviously seen the rough times and now the good times. How satisfying is it, seeing both ends of it, to now be here for the good times?
It just lets you know all the hard work really pays off. Just seeing where this team has come from and the constant changes to the roster, to the coaching staff. It just lets me know that all those hard years weren’t in vain and it just feels so good to capitalize on that especially with a great season, the way it’s going this year.
Was there ever a point, during those rough years, that you began to think you’d never see the good times with this organization?
It was hard during those years, but every new year I had a new load of confidence in the team. And now I think the confidence has grown exponentially through just how confident coach McVay is about the work ethic and the culture around here. It’s really just a bunch of things that kind of let me know that this was going to be a special team.
Having gone through all of it, does it make you appreciate the good times ever more?
Oh yes. And it definitely makes me work even harder. I’m more critical than ever when I watch film of myself, and I think it’s making me an even better football player.
What were your initial thoughts upon meeting Sean McVay for the first time?
My initial thoughts were that this is a guy that knows what he wants. This is a smart guy. And this is a guy who is confident in the way he wants to teach his players. And all of that together is going to provide a culture that is going to make this a good team no matter who we have on the roster.
Did you instantly believe he was the guy that could get this franchise turned around?
I definitely thought he had a chance to get it turned around. I was just as excited as the fans were when they found out about our new coach.
Sean McVay and his coaching staff seem to put a premium on teaching, but they also give ownership to the players in terms of the process, everything from practice to rest to technique. How do you think that benefits you guys as players?
It eliminates a lot of the frustration that goes into … when you’re not able to voice your opinion. Or having things go a certain way when you want to perform as well as you possibly can. The way we’re able to be a part of that process has made a lot of guys work even harder for the simple fact that, hey, they’re taking our input. This is us doing this together. This is truly a team situation and process. And when it comes right down to it, we know we were going to be fully rested by game time. We know exactly what we need to do in order to produce what we want to produce on the field. And it’s been a real healthy partnership between players and coaches.
You moved around quite a bit on the offensive line during your career, but this is the second straight year you’ve been playing left guard exclusively. How important has that been?
It’s been extremely important. It helps me perfect my craft. There’s not as much rust as when you have to continually change positions. Figuring out through experience what you know you need to do in order to play at a high level. For me, it’s been amazing to be able to sit in one place and constantly critique the smallest things and details so I can produce at the highest level possible on the field.
You were only a two-star recruit coming out of high school in Ohio. That’s hard to believe given your college and NFL success. How did that happen?
Honestly, I don’t know. I went to a school that had a couple of NFL players. We had Chris Chambers, Lee Evans and Eric Beverly. We had a bunch of guys that went to the NFL. But my school was a D-2 school so maybe that had something to do with it. But at the end of the day, I knew I could play football. I knew I was talented athletically. So when it came to work ethic, I just had to make sure I was working harder than everybody else. Getting into college and starting off as fourth string and then making my way to be able to start my freshman year was a big goal for me.
If you had a chance to go back and talk to that two-star recruit, what would you tell him?
All I would say is continue to work hard and limit mistakes and just understand you have to sacrifice everything to be able to get where you want to be.
You are the co-founder of Rise Nation, an esports franchise that began in 2014. How did that come about?
Really, I played games myself. I was on Twitch, streaming some of my game play with a few friends. We had a lot of comments and a lot of traction and we started thinking we should create our own organization. We decided to start with Call of Duty, we were able to start that. We put together a pretty good team that was able to get through regionals and get to the World Finals. And we placed pretty good over there. And that kind of started it all. It put our names on the map and a few years later we started venturing into other games.
Your involvement with esports began well before the explosion we’ve seen the last couple years. Did you have an inkling it would grow to be as popular as it has?
I knew there was a lot of opportunities and when it came to investing in something I knew I wanted to invest in something that I was personally interested in. And so being able to take that and run with it and things were going really well. But of course, you never expect it to blow up like it did until ESPN decided this was a sport and you started seeing bigger names starting to get involved, and once the explosion happened you kind of had to adapt.
You’ve seen the world as a player and now as a franchise owner. How has that changed the way you view your NFL world as a player?
I just think I understand the business side of things a lot more. I know and understand that nothing is personal. And I know that the guys in the front office, they have to do what they have to do in order to make sure this team is successful. And I know I have to do what I have to do sometimes with my teams to make sure they’re successful. So when it comes down to that, I just think more of, there are no hard feelings to whatever happens as far as my contract, or as far as anybody else on the team whether they’re leaving us or coming to us.