Thurs. 8/14 practice w/ the Saints

Adam Grosbard@AdamGrosbard
Whole Rams pass rush stood out today in joint practice vs Saints but man Tyler Davis just keeps making plays this camp. That four-man tackle rotation with Turner, Fiske and Ford is gonna be nasty

Biggest offensive takeaway today was what happens when Jarquez Hunter hits the second or third level. Had three runs I saw today where he saw open grass and was just gone.

6 takeaways from Rams’ joint practice with Saints

Cameron DaSilva

https://theramswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2025/08/14/rams-saints-joint-practice-takeaways-recap/85663545007/

The Los Angeles Rams are doing their best to get ready for the start of the season despite being without Matthew Stafford for the last several weeks. They continued their prep on Thursday with a joint practice against the New Orleans Saints, their second such practice of the summer; the first was with the Dallas Cowboys.

The defense continues to be a major bright spot leading up to the season and though the offense is loaded with playmakers, it isn’t going to operate as well as it would with Stafford under center.

Overall, it appeared to be a good day for both teams, with some up-and-down performances from each. Here’s what we learned about the Rams on Thursday.

Offense did not look sharp

Sean McVay admitted after practice that the offense was “up and down,” with some sloppy mistakes throughout the practice. Puka Nacua had a drop in the flat, Stetson Bennett and Jimmy Garoppolo each threw interceptions and there simply didn’t appear to be many big plays early in practice.

Things got moving in the right direction during the two-minute session but prior to that, the Rams seemed to have trouble moving the ball through the air.

Defensive front was dominant (again)

Both Saints and Rams reporters raved about Los Angeles’ defensive front, which has been outstanding since the start of camp. It was great against the Cowboys and it was a force once again on Thursday.

Jared Verse and Byron Young did a good job generating pressure off the edge, while well-timed blitzes by the inside linebackers led to sacks, too. Adam Grosbard of the LA Daily News specifically pointed out Tyler Davis as a player who “just keeps making plays.”

David Quessenberry was the starting left tackle

Interestingly, Quessenberry was the first-team left tackle in practice against the Saints, a job that D.J. Humphries had been holding down. There was no report of Humphries being out of practice but it’s possible he was either getting a vet rest day or is banged up because he wasn’t working with the second-team offense, either.

Regardless of the reason for Humphries’ absence, Quessenberry might’ve moved ahead of Warren McClendon Jr. in that competition to be the swing tackle/fourth tackle, depending on Alaric Jackson’s health.

Jackson was not on the field at all during team drills, for what it’s worth.

Nate Landman keeps making plays

Landman has been a stud for the Rams on defense in his first camp with the team, continuing to make plays on Thursday. He forced a fumble on Alvin Kamara, punching the ball out to create a turnover during team drills.

He’s locked down a starting spot in the middle and will likely be the signal caller on defense, too.

Emmanuel Forbes Jr. gets run with first-team defense

The Rams were rotating their cornerbacks fairly often throughout practice, giving Ahkello Witherspoon, Cobie Durant, Darious Williams and Forbes all opportunities with the starting defense. Forbes seemed to be on the field with the starters often early in practice, a good sign as he returns from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for a couple of weeks.

Forbes is inching closer to being a lock for the 53-man roster as a key contributor in the secondary.

Rushing attack is trending up

The Rams should have a lot of success on the ground this season with their three-headed monster of Kyren Williams, Blake Corum and Jarquez Hunter. Williams and Corum both had some good runs during practice, as seen on the Saints’ livestream, but Hunter really flashes in this practice.

The rookie broke off a long run up the middle where he cut back to his right and housed it for a touchdown, showing off his breakaway speed. He’s going to be difficult to keep off the field this season.

from https://www.thesportingtribune.com/2025/08/14/rams-saints-joint-practice-mcvay-updates-on-stafford-chirping-with-saints-players–brandon-staley

On the defensive side, Rams defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant kept his secondary fired up, talking smack on the sideline during 11-on-11. Whenever there was a pass breakup or a big hit, the group erupted with enthusiasm.

In red zone defense, Saints receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr. faked toward the middle before breaking outside, leaving his defender behind. However, quarterback Tyler Shough threw the ball behind him.

“That was a good route young man,” Pleasant said, before turning to his defensive backs and adding, “It will never be easy against us boys.”

Jimmy G is a rollercoaster

The offense started slowly, plagued by dropped passes and interceptions, struggling to find any rhythm early.

One risky play came during 11-on-11 when Garoppolo threw toward Davante Adams. In a live game, it could have been costly, as linebacker Pete Werner, safety Julian Blackmon, and cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry were all in position to make a play.

#11 Jimmy Garoppolo of the Los Angeles Rams throws a pass during joint practice against the New Orleans Saints on August 14, 2025 in Carson, CA.
Darwin Walker – The Sporting Tribune

#11 Jimmy Garoppolo of the Los Angeles Rams throws a pass during joint practice against the New Orleans Saints on August 14, 2025 in Carson, CA.

McVay described the veteran quarterback’s day as “up and down.”

“One of my favorite things about Jimmy is, if something doesn’t go down the way we want, or if we have a little bit of a miscommunication, he’s great about being able to reset and be able to respond and not react to whatever that next snap is,” McVay said. “And I thought he did that today.”

Garoppolo did find his stride in the two-minute offense and red zone work, throwing touchdown passes to Adams and tight ends Tyler Higbee and Colby Parkinson.

In the two-minute drill, he connected with Adams and Puka Nacua twice, then found Adams in the corner to set up a chance to “end the game.”

“I love the way that he finished in the two-minute drill where he hits a big completion to Davante right off the jump and then we’re really one more completion away from being in the position that we want,” McVay said. “He managed that really well, but I thought he did a great job.”

McVay shows Staley love

Thursday featured a good battle between McVay’s offense and the Saints defense, led by Brandon Staley.

Staley served as McVay’s defensive coordinator in 2020 before being hired as the Chargers’ head coach. After three seasons in Los Angeles, he joined the San Francisco 49ers in 2024 as assistant head coach/defense.

When Kellen Moore was hired as the Saints’ head coach, he brought Staley in as his defensive coordinator. McVay expects big things from his former assistant this season.

“He’s got a great big picture perspective and capacity for the game,” McVay said. “I’ve absolutely kept in touch with Brandon, and I’m really happy to see him back in a leadership role. I know what a great coach he is, and he’ll do an excellent job.”

10 Observations from Rams’ joint practice with Saints: Offense overcomes early challenges to find rhythm late; defensive front wreaking havoc; Omar Speights, Nate Landman and Kam Kinchens’ playmaking

Stu Jackson

https://www.therams.com/news/10-observations-rams-joint-practice-saints-offense-overcomes-early-challenges-to-find-rhythm-late-defensive-front-wreaking-havoc-omar-speights-nate-landman-and-kam-kinchens-playmaking

CARSON, Calif. – Thursday’s joint practice with the Saints saw the Rams offense look not as crisp initially as it did last week against the Cowboys but still find a way to finish strong, while their defense’s front seven dominated throughout the practice.

Here are 10 observations from the session:

1) Matthew Stafford does not practice. As noted in our separate injury update, even with Los Angeles operating under a day-to-day approach with its starting quarterback, it makes sense that Stafford would not participate, given head coach Sean McVay had ruled him out for the joint practice with the Chargers that wound up getting canceled. Thus, it was Jimmy Garoppolo once again leading the first-team offense in one of these settings.

2) Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes participates in practice. According to McVay, Forbes got “about 50 percent” of the snaps in today’s joint practice, which aligned with the plan they had for him.

“It’s good to be able to get him out on (the) practice (field) a couple days ago, and looks like he’s feeling good, and so for that, we’re grateful,” McVay said.

3) Offense lacks rhythm early..*.* First, some relevant context that the Rams were running a lot of base looks on both sides of the ball, according to McVay, which makes sense given these two teams will see each other again in Week 9 in the regular season. And while these joint practices are valuable opportunities for L.A.’s starters, the team does not gameplan for these.

It’s also worth pointing out that the Saints’ defensive coordinator is Brandon Staley, who held the same role for the Rams in 2020 and therefore has some familiarity with their offensive system and its rules.

Still, whether it was interceptions or unusual drops, the early team periods for the Rams did not resemble the explosive, efficient performance by their offense in last Tuesday’s joint practice with the Cowboys.

Garoppolo’s play had a hand in that, with McVay describing the quarterback’s day as “up and down.”

McVay pointed the impact of Saints’ pass rush in early in practice, but Garoppolo performed better as the Rams progressed into segments involving second- and third-down work, praising Garoppolo for how well he saw coverage and distributed the ball in those situations.

“One of my favorite things about Jimmy is, if something doesn’t go down the way we want, or if we have a little bit of a miscommunication, he’s great about being able to reset and be able to respond and not react to whatever that next snap is,” McVay said. “And I thought he did that today.”

4) … but finds it late. As McVay mentioned, Garoppolo deserves credit for his response after those early challenges. He threw a touchdown pass each to tight end Tyler Higbee, tight end Colby Parkinson and wide receiver Davante Adams in redzone drills – Adams’ was arguably most impressive because of his “late hands” technique to bring it in.

In the 2-minute drill period at the end of practice, Garoppolo fired off three straight completions – one to Adams, one to wide receiver Puka Nacua, then another to Adams – to get the offense moving.

“I love the way that he finished in the two-minute drill where he hits a big completion to Davante right off the jump and then we’re really one more completion away from being in the position that we want,” McVay said. “He managed that really well, but I thought he did a great job.”

5) Play(s) of the day. Early in team drills, inside linebacker Nate Landman used a “peanut punch” to a force a fumble by Saints running back Alvin Kamara, and Kinchens recovered the loose ball.

In redzone drills, cornerback Cam Lampkin had a fourth-down pass breakup in the endzone on a Spencer Rattler pass that drew lots of cheers from his defensive teammates.

6) Under pressure. Outside linebackers Jared Verse and Byron Young were fast and disruptive off the edge throughout Thursday’s practice. The interior defensive line was also consistently generating pressure and stops behind the efforts of Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske, Poona Ford and especially Tyler Davis.

7) Davis and inside linebacker Omar Speights make their presence felt. Speights delivered one of the most physical “thud” tackles – both teams appeared to emphasize tackling without taking players off their feet – of practice when he hit Saints running back Kendre Miller as Miller was bringing in a pass during redzone team drills. L.A.’s defense was fired up after that.

Davis likewise had a run stop that was a big play for the defense in terms of the reaction it drew from teammates.

8) One-two step (times two). Besides Garoppolo, another standout in the two-minute drill period was wide receiver Konata Mumpfield, who had back-to-back catches near the right sideline where he got one foot down, then landed the other on top in bounds in toe-tap fashion, much to the delight of the Rams sideline.

9) Jarquez Hunter’s speed shines. The rookie running back had a few breakaway runs, the most impressive of which was arguably when he ran up the middle, cut back to the right, then found daylight through the second level of the Saints defense.

10) Lots of work for the ones: The bulk of the snaps went to each team’s first-team offenses and defenses, as expected based on what Saints head coach Kellen Moore told New Orleans reporters this week.