Rams tweets etc. … 6/15

from Albert Breer: https://www.si.com/nfl/albert-breer-takeaways-rising-quarterback-salaries-myles-garrett-kyler-murray#inline-text-19

Nicole Blake has moved up the ranks quickly with the Rams.

…

After graduating from Duke, Nicole Blake entered the NFL’s rotational program, then went to get her MBA from Stanford. During the 2020–21 academic year, her first there, she took a class taught by ex-Sixers GM Sam Hinkie, who brought Demoff in to speak at a time when all class sessions happened over Zoom. Blake was part of the presenting group in the class, and as her group presented, Hinkie sent a message over to Demoff saying that Blake wanted to work in the NFL. One problem: The message, intended to be private, went to the whole class.

It was the sort of screwup that was pretty routine for the time. But soon enough, Demoff connected Blake with Snead and Pastoors, telling them how smart she was and that she loved football and, “if we’re a good organization, we should be able to figure this out.”

She interned with the Rams in the summer of 2021 and was hired the next year to work alongside Jake Temme under director of scouting strategy James Gladstone. Last year, she essentially replaced Gladstone when he landed the Jaguars’ GM job and took Temme with him to be Jacksonville’s senior VP of football analytics.

That rise, of course, seems pretty meteoric—from business school four years ago to being a top-level executive for an NFL power. But it has been earned, too. Blake has shown a lot of the things Gladstone did in being able to blend scouting, analytics and coaching into a collective vision for what the Rams are looking for. She also has provend herself a great communicator with a great demeanor, and she has earned the full respect of McVay.

Nicole Blake has moved up the ranks quickly with the Rams. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Anyway, I had someone tell me last week when I was asking around about her that she’d be the NFL’s first woman general manager.

She’s definitely not the only one in the running to earn that distinction. But to those she has worked with, she has shown over and over again she belongs on that list.