Rams rookie minicamp

Rams rookie minicamp a time for Jared Goff, others to show their actual football skills

By RICH HAMMOND / STAFF WRITER

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/rams-714979-time-goff.html

The abstract concept becomes a reality Friday afternoon in Oxnard, when actual Rams are on an actual field. Get out of the way, news conferences and photo shoots, because it’s time for some football.

The Rams will host a two-day rookie minicamp for as many as 27 players, those who either were drafted last week, signed as undrafted free agents or invited on tryout deals.

The headliner will be No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff, who will be in action for the first time as the Rams’ presumptive quarterback of the future.

The practices are not open to the public, but media will be allowed to watch and report, so here are five items with the potential to be weekend storylines:

• 1. Goff’s time to shine: He’s a cool customer, or at least that’s what everyone has been hearing for weeks. Now it’s time to prove it. It’s just a minicamp, so no significant conclusions should be reached, but this is Goff’s first time to be on the field in a Rams jersey and start to feel some pressure.

Coaches and team management will be watching his every throw, and if Goff’s goal is to be the starting quarterback in September – in truth, that’s also the Rams’ goal – this is his initial chance to make a strong impression and set a tone heading into full-team workouts.

• 2. Who will catch on? Goff surely will not lack for targets. The minicamp group is expected to include recently drafted receivers Pharoh Cooper and Mike Thomas, plus undrafted signees Paul McRoberts, Marquez North and Nelson Spruce, plus tryout receiver Jimmy Worton.

The Rams have some depth issues at receiver, and this is a fantastic opportunity for Cooper to establish himself as a slot receiver and Thomas to establish himself as a big, possession target. These guys, and others, have a chance to develop an early rapport with Goff.

• 3. Tight-end competition: Tyler Higbee, a fourth-round pick, was arraigned Thursday and pleaded not guilty to assault charges. Higbee is expected to participate in the minicamp along with Temarrick Hemingway, whom the Rams drafted in the sixth round.

The Rams certainly need at least one field-stretching tight end. The question is whether Hemingway simply is a safety net, should things go wrong with Higbee, or whether both players have the potential to earn playing time to complement starter Lance Kendricks.

• 4. New kicker? Coach Jeff Fisher has made it known that kicker Greg Zuerlein, who struggled in 2015, isn’t going to retain his job without a training-camp battle, so there’s a great opportunity here for undrafted free agent Taylor Bertolet (Texas A&M) to make an impact and put himself into the fall competition.

The Rams are likely to add a veteran kicker or two before fall camp, and Bertolet was an interesting inclusion. A highly touted high school kicker, Bertolet didn’t win the Aggies’ job outright until his senior year, then made only 22 of 31 field-goal attempts last season. He did make 5 of 9 from 50 yards and beyond.

• 5. Those other guys: Defense? There are defensive players at the minicamp also? The Rams’ roster is more stable on that side of the ball than on offense, but they will be looking for depth players at linebacker and in the defensive backfield.

The Rams used only one of their six draft picks on a defensive player, linebacker Josh Forrest, but have an intriguing group of undrafted free agents. There are four linebackers and five defensive backs, plus a familiar name, that of Nevada defensive lineman Ian Seau, nephew of Hall of Famer Junior Seau.

Rams rookies get orientation rather than minicamp

Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/29082/for-rams-rookies-get-orientation-rather-than-minicamp

LOS ANGELES — There was considerable attention earlier this week on the Miami Dolphins after their announcement that their version of rookie minicamp would include little to no on-field work, plenty of time spent in the classroom and a focus on generally introducing their rookie class to the way the Dolphins do things.

But for those who have followed the Rams under coach Jeff Fisher, that probably all sounded quite familiar. That’s because Fisher has eschewed the basic tenets of the minicamp in each of his first four seasons with the team. In fact, Fisher doesn’t even like the word minicamp, instead choosing to refer to his first opportunity to work with a given rookie class as an “orientation.”

Now that the Rams are back in Los Angeles, that won’t change. When Fisher and the team welcomes this year’s group of rookies, the plan will stay the same as the previous four years.

“It’s very, very similar,” Fisher said. “Some teams are going to take them on the field, get them to full speed twice a day on Friday and Saturday, and we choose not to do that. We call it an orientation.”

After a long offseason leading up to the NFL draft, Fisher believes that rookies shouldn’t be asked to step on the field for multiple practices in a day right away without even knowing what’s expected of them. Likewise, there’s a reasonable fear of injury that comes with those practices. The Jacksonville Jaguars found that out the hard way last year when No. 3 overall pick Dante Fowler Jr. suffered a season-ending knee injury on the first day of minicamp.

Instead of extended on-field work, Fisher and the Rams will limit their time on the field to walkthrough pace and a physical conditioning test. The rest of the time will be an indoctrination into NFL and Rams life, including plenty of meeting time.

Fisher believes it’s important for the rookies to know how things work before they share the field with the veterans.

“We’re going to bring them in and just introduce the National Football League to them,” Fisher said. “Just bring them along slowly over the period of a couple days, that includes walkthroughs and meetings. We’re going to find out where they are physically, from a conditioning standpoint, and then we’re going to get them caught up with our vets that have been working for a few weeks now.”

After the orientation, the rookie class will get the chance to slowly build toward the beginning of organized team activities. That’s the first chance for the entire team to go through practices together, with the Rams’ first practice set for May 31.

Slow and heady is a winning pace for Rams rookies

http://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-sp-rams-rookie-camp-fisher-20160508-story.html

There were no long passes. No sensational moves. No outstanding pursuits or tackles.

And that suited Rams Coach Jeff Fisher just fine.

After two days of watching the Rams’ drafted players and free agents go through a rookie orientation and mini-camp in Oxnard, Fisher was pleased that players observed the half-speed mandate and came away informed and uninjured.

“You want a healthy roster when you start training camp,” Fisher said Saturday.

“You’re looking at the mental thing,” he said. “Are they doing the right thing?”

With two days of meetings and workouts behind them, the players will have Sunday off before a week of immersion and observation in preparation for getting onto the field with veteran players.

“The objective of what we’re doing is so that it’s not a shock,” Fisher said.

Most of the new players will introduce themselves to veterans during a team meeting Monday — “That’s always amusing,” Fisher said — but some, including quarterback Jared Goff, will return to their college campuses for final exams.

Goff, the top pick in the draft, was not allowed to cut loose during the mini-camp or show many of the skills he demonstrated during predraft workouts.

But Fisher said the former California standout was given much more information to process.

“He handled it without any problem, and that’s the impressive thing,” Fisher said. “I passed [Friday] night . . . and he was leaving the meeting room at 10 o’clock. He’s that kind of guy. He’s spending the time.”

Tight end Temarrick Hemingway, a sixth-round draft pick from South Carolina State, said Goff worked to make a connection even before mini-camp.

“After I got drafted, he texted me immediately after, ‘I can’t wait to work with you,'” Hemingway said. “That just showed me what kind of guy he is.

“He comes in early to work. He’s always ready to work.”

Fisher said the Rams will continue to give Goff information during his absence so he won’t be behind when he returns from Berkeley.

Big impression

Hemingway is listed at 6 feet 5 and said he weighs 245 pounds.

That’s much heavier than the player who began his college career as a 170-pound receiver before switching to tight end.

“I started gaining weight pretty fast” in college, he said, laughing. “I gained more than ‘the Freshman 30’ or ‘the Freshman 20,’ whatever you want to call it.

“I had like ‘the Freshman 50.'”

Hemingway was one of two tight ends drafted by the Rams. Tyler Higbee of Western Kentucky was a fourth-round pick.

Hemingway is adapting to new terminology and said he was enjoying the demands of being a pro.

“It’s a lot of work — a lot of hard work,” he said. “In college you can do it if you want to, but here you need to go ahead and do it to get ahead. . . . It’s more competitive here in the NFL.

“I’m loving it because it makes you better.”

Catching on

Receiver Michael Thomas is accustomed to going full-speed on long routes, but he welcomed the slowed-down approach of the mini-camp.

“By walking us through everything, it’s great because I get to learn the depth of routes and the concepts of routes and plays,” he said.

Les Snead said after the draft that Thomas was particularly adept at making catches in the air in contested situations with defenders.

Thomas is looking forward to showing those skills.

“I go up strong for the ball and make dynamic plays and stretch the field vertically,” he said. “That’s something I’m very good at and something I can bring to the table on this young team.”

Defending his ground

Linebacker Josh Forrest was the only defensive player among the Rams’ draftees. The sixth-round pick began his college career at Kentucky as a receiver, but then switched to safety, outside linebacker and then middle linebacker.

The 6-3, 255-pound Forrest said he was working at the strong-side spot during the mini-camp. Competing against tight ends, he said, will offer a change of pace.

“Going from middle linebacker and having to deal with bigger guys, and now going back to tight ends is a little easier,” he said. “I definitely think that playing all the positions helped me.”

Rams left impressed by first look at rookies

Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/29147/rams-left-impressed-by-first-look-at-rookies

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Rams held their annual rookie orientation over the weekend, offering the team its first chance to see its new crop of rookies up close.

The group of rookies included the six the Rams drafted, 19 undrafted free agents and a pair of tryout players. Rams coach Jeff Fisher’s plan for the rookies during the orientation is always to limit time on the field to short drills and a general walk-through pace while emphasizing everything that goes into making the transition to the NFL.

Still, Fisher came away with a positive first impression of the 2016 rookie group.

“They’ve done a really good job, just really impressed with the whole group,” Fisher said. “We’ve got a lot accomplished. As we have referred to this in the past as an orientation, as opposed to a minicamp, and in essence that’s what it is. We’re monitoring their speed and explosive movements and things like that, particularly because they are a little bit behind the veterans. They adjusted, they did a nice job. We got a lot of offense and defense in; we got some special-teams work going.”

In addition to that light on-field work, the rookies got their first weightlifting session with strength coach Rock Gullickson and sat through a variety of meetings ranging from an introduction to schemes to how the Rams go about their business and practices.

While the veteran Rams are still going through the offseason conditioning program, Fisher makes it a point to keep the rookies separate from the older players for a little while longer.

“As we continue to move in to our offseason program, we’re going to kind of keep them separate from the veterans for about a week or so,” Fisher said. “Work them in the afternoon and just let them observe, just to ensure that we get them caught up to that conditioning level where our vets are.”

Of course, as is often the case, not all of the rookies will get to stick around for the immediate future. NFL rules stipulate that rookies can’t join their team full time until their school year is complete. Many of the teams in the Pac-12 Conference, for example, are on the quarter system and have finals later than other schools. That means quarterback Jared Goff will have to return to school briefly before he can return.

“I know he’s looking forward to coming back,” Fisher said. “We have a number of players that have to leave because their exams aren’t over — Jared being one of them. But, most everybody will be back next weekend. Those that do leave, we have about a half dozen or so that are leaving, but the rest of the guys will be here and participate throughout the offseason program.”

Fisher said the rookies that do get to stick around will have their first chance to meet the veterans on Monday. They’ll then begin integrating the rookies and veterans in advance of the start of organized team activities, the first of which is scheduled for May 31.

“They’ll be meetings together and things like that,” Fisher said. “As a matter of fact and they’re looking forward to it, they get to introduce themselves to the veterans on Monday morning at the team meeting. That’s always amusing.”