Wyatt Miller@wymill07
Asked Jared Verse yesterday about impressions of new OTs David Quessenberry and D.J. Humphries after going against them in practice the last two days. He had a very complimentary response:

Adam Grosbard@AdamGrosbard
Good second day of practice for Rams RB Blake Corum. Even for touch, he was making guys miss with his cuts

And you can really see Jarquez Hunter’s speed on the field. Bounced one run outside and was off for a 20 yard gain.

…

Grosbard, from https://www.dailynews.com/2025/07/23/coleman-shelton-brings-calming-presence-back-to-rams-offensive-line/

After a year in Chicago, Coleman Shelton is back at center for the Rams, signing back with the team on a two-year contract this offseason and bringing a calming presence to the Rams’ offensive line.

“The command, the communication, that’s such an important part,” head coach Sean McVay said. “That rapport between the center and the quarterback and how that echoes from inside out. You hear our guards communicating more. I think it’ll be great. I have so much confidence in what Beaux Limmer’s going to be for our football team down the line, I think for him to be able to see how Coleman runs the show will only make him better.”

Since his return to L.A., teammates have lauded Shelton for his attention to detail and the preparation he puts in before practice and games. And while Wednesday’s practice at Loyola Marymount was uneven for the line – the Rams’ pass rush won frequently and had backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo under pressure for much of the day – Shelton came away encouraged with the foundation his group is building.

10 Observations from from Day 2 of 2025 Rams Training Camp: Puka Nacua shines, RBs breaking off big runs, plus notes on Nate Landman, Cobie Durant and Emmanuel Forbes

Stu Jackson & Wyatt Miller

https://www.therams.com/news/10-observations-from-from-day-2-of-2025-rams-training-camp-puka-nacua-shines-rbs-breaking-off-big-runs-plus-notes-on-nate-landman-cobie-durant-and-emmanuel-forbes

Senior staff writer Stu Jackson spent the evening watching the defense, while staff writer Wyatt Miller watched the offense. Notes on each unit below.

Offense

1) Davante Adams, Tyler Higbee and Rob Havenstein get day off. Head coach Sean McVay explained that the second day of each training camp block will serve as a veteran rest day. That will allow them to see the field together as much as possible throughout the rest of camp. They were still on the field coaching up their teammates, but didn’t participate in practice.

2) Puka Nacua steals the show. Jared Verse said it best: “Puka’s a psychopath.” Nacua caught a flurry of passes over the middle on Thursday and was the most targeted receiver of the afternoon. He leapt to corral a pass from Jimmy Garoppolo over the middle and then ended the day with a falling touchdown grab between defenders, after which his teammates came to pat him on the helmet.

3) Terrance Ferguson displays strong hands. Stetson Bennett targeted Ferguson often. He caught everything that was thrown his way, whether it was on his body or above his head, before turning upfield.

4) Running backs break some big rushes. Both Kyren Williams and Blake Corum found holes in the defense for chunk gains on Thursday. Corum made some quick cuts on a carry up the middle and turned it into a house call, while Williams exploded through the first level untouched for a big gain into the secondary.

5) Bennett shows flashes again. Whether it was an early strike to tight end Davis Allen on a seam route or a scramble for a touchdown in red zone drills, Bennett made his presence felt on Thursday. His pocket presence was noticeable and he fit the ball into some tight windows throughout the day, including on an early completion to Drake Stoops, a completion that Bennett celebrated with a little jig.

Defense

6) Play of the day went to safety Tanner Ingle. During team drills, he took advantage of a Bennett pass deflected into the air by Derion Kendrick, corralling it for an interception.

7) Landman in command. Linebackers coach Greg Williams told theRams.com during OTAs that Landman was transitioning “seamlessly” into Los Angeles’ defense, and also that “he’s come in and guys respect him just from where he’s been and what he’s done.” That was evident throughout Thursday’s practice. Whenever the defense huddled, he consistently had the eyes and attention of every teammate pre-snap, which says a lot about the respect he has already commanded in such a short amount of time.

8) Training camp is for experimenting. Verse made a concerted effort to work the edge throughout Thursday’s practice, which he said was by design after specifically focusing on his counter and inside moves in Wednesday’s practice.

9) Pass rush getting after it. One of the defensive front’s best moments on Thursday was a pressure generated against Garoppolo in red zone drills that forced him into an incomplete pass – one that safety Quentin Lake was in coverage for and nearly intercepted by the sideline. Lake’s effort and near-pick had the entire defense fired up and celebrating with him.

10) Continued promising performances at cornerback. Cornerback Cobie Durant picked up where he left off on Wednesday, breaking up a pass in the end zone. Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. likewise put together back-to-back strong practices.

“I’ve been really pleased with (Forbes),” McVay said. “We talked about him a lot in the spring, a guy that did a great job in the weight room of being able to put on some weight to be able to play this game while also not losing the functional movement and some of the things that have made him a guy that was a first-round pick.”

Jared Verse on workout out with Aaron Donald pic.twitter.com/sLtrmkky69

— FootballByNikko (@FootballByNikko) July 25, 2025

…

Adam Grosbard@AdamGrosbard
Jared Verse says Aaron Donald didn’t say hi when he showed up for their workout. AD told him to stretch before they went into circuits.

“Then he’s like, alright, you ready for the real workout? I’m like, bro, I’ve been here for 45 minutes, what are you talking about?”

More Verse: “His wife came in laughing at me. I told her to call the police — I’m not even joking, I’m dead serious — she wouldn’t do it. I tried to lie and say my mom was at my apartment and I had to let her in. He told me to give my keys to his assistant. So I wasn’t leaving”

Stu Jackson@StuJRams
Jared Verse on what he took from his workout with Aaron Donald this summer and added to his own:

“It was definitely the mindset that, like, you gotta keep going. The one thing he kept saying throughout the whole workout … Think of the fourth quarter. Like, everyone’s good the first and the second, third, but what about the fourth? That’s you make your money? That’s where you make your money. He kept saying, he’s saying it loud and proud.”

Verse: “He was talking like me. I was like, damn, okay, I guess there’s levels to this (stuff).”

Verse on what it means to have that kind of mentorship from Aaron Donald:

“It was insane to see, like, that’s the level it takes to be in the discussions of best defensive player ever, best player ever. So to know that’s the level I have to reach on a consecutive basis, that’s what I’m striving for.”

.@RamsNFL @BradenFiske_ had 10 sacks as a rookie….very very hard to accomplish but he is a talented rusher and a complete football player who should take a big step this season. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/z2YcXEK2B3

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) July 24, 2025

Brock Vierra@BrockVierra
3 Immediate Takeaways from Rams Training Camp

1. Stetson Bennett is a much improved quarterback

2. Defense was ready to compete from sunrise with Nate Landman looking particularly impressive.

3. Jarquez Hunter. Relentless physicality

…

Five Takeaways From Rams 2025 Training Camp Day One
The Los Angeles Rams got after it on Wednesday

Brock Vierra

https://www.si.com/nfl/rams/stetson-bennett-sean-mcvay-davante-adams-nate-landman

The Los Angeles Rams are back in full swing as they took to the practice fields of Loyola Marymount for the first time this season. After many great sessions of traing and competetion, here are my five main takeaways from day one.

1. The Rams have a special, cerebral player in Nate Landman. Landman continually snuffed out the run and play action, making critical decisions that prohibited the ball from being thrown downfield. Landman appears to be the difference maker that will take this defense from explosive to dominating.

2. Stetson Bennett looked fantastic. He was making smart decisions, solid throws, and outperformed Jimmy Garoppolo. I asked Sean McVay about his thoughts regarding Bennett’s performance.

“I thought he did a nice job. I was really pleased with Jimmy, I thought he had great command,” said McVay. “Then I thought Stetson came in and really managed the second offense really well. There was a lot of instances where he’s going against the first group. I thought he was good with his decision making, showed some good movement. I thought he changed his arm slot and was able to get the ball where the coverage dictated. I was pleased with Stetson. [Rams Quarterback Coach] Dave [Ragone] does an excellent job with our quarterbacks as a whole, and I thought both those guys did a nice job today.”

3. If Jimmy Garoppolo needs to play, the Rams would need to restructure their offense, making Davante Adams the priority target. Garoppolo didn’t have the best day but it’s also his first day throwing again. He needs to get into rhythm. However, it’s clear certain elements of the offense will not work when he’s in so if he does see the field, the Rams will need to change things up and looking at how often he targeted Adams, it would be the same approach the Vikings did with Justin Jefferson to unlock Sam Darnold.

However, Garoppolo did run in a touchdown and was immediately dapped up by Adams with both men smiling, so any thought that there are issues from their time with the Raiders can easily be put as false.

4. Jarquez Hunter is a bulldog. Keep in mind that this was day one and players were in jerseys and shorts, no pads. Hunter tried to run through the entire defense, sprinting upfield long after the play was over. He wants it badly and he’s taking no prisoners with Rams’ defenders having to corral him with the most effort they spent on run defense the whole day.

5. The Rams defense came to play. Jared Verse led the troops with boisterous noise as Quentin Lake added to the talk. The defense as a whole was firing, locking down the Rams in the secondary with Charles Woods in particular having an outstanding play.

Woods pressed Puka Nacua at the line of scrimmage, released at the perfect time, jumped the pass, but an easy pick-six fell out of his grasp. Not a bad day at all.

from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2025/07/24/la-rams-training-camp-practice-takeaways-day-1/85353270007/

…

D.J. Humphries and Warren McClendon Jr. filling in at LT

Alaric Jackson was in uniform and took part in individual drills, as expected, but he wasn’t on the field for the team portion of practice. He’s dealing with blood clots and the Rams are being cautious with their $57.75 million left tackle.

In his place, McVay said Humphries and McClendon both got reps at left tackle, with McClendon doing a “nice job” at that spot. David Quessenberry is also a candidate to potentially fill in for Jackson or Rob Havenstein.

“We are hopeful that Alaric will be ready to go. … I thought Warren did a nice job. D.J. got a handful of reps,” McVay said. “Warren was able to play right and left [tackle]. He got a bunch of reps, so just talking to Ryan Wendell about that. So, Quessenberry’s another guy that we know can play. It was great to be able to have ‘Big Rob’ out here at the tackle spot as well. So, we’re going to continue to identify – that’s going to be a really important spot for us to be able to develop with an optimistic and a hopeful approach that Alaric is going to continue to work and be ready whenever he gets cleared.”

Stetson Bennett impressed Sean McVay

With Stafford sidelined, Bennett got more opportunities at quarterback behind Jimmy Garoppolo, who was QB1 in Stafford’s place. McVay liked what he saw from Garoppolo, saying he was “really pleased” with how he performed, but he was also impressed by Bennett.

Bennett worked with the second-team offense and it sounds like he did a nice job leading that group.

“I thought he did a nice job,” McVay said of Bennett. “I was really pleased with Jimmy, I thought he had great command. Then I thought Stetson came in and really managed the second offense really well. There was a lot of instances where he’s going against the first group. I thought he was good with his decision making, showed some good movement. I thought he changed his arm slot and was able to get the ball where the coverage dictated. I was pleased with Stetson.”

Between the Horns: Everything you need to know ahead of Rams Training Camp with @JB_Long, @DMarcoFarr1 + @MJD » https://t.co/KwHChs4owl pic.twitter.com/uWof9VkIfk

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) July 24, 2025

From The Insiders on @NFLNetwork: Puka Nacua joined the show, detailing his thoughts on the #Rams this year, why Matthew Stafford's arm is still special, and how much Davante Adams has helped him. pic.twitter.com/g9Dm3ktb5F

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 15, 2025

from Matt Bowen, Ranking the top 50 NFL offseason signings, trades, draft picks: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45787796/2025-nfl-offseason-newcomers-ranking-draft-trades-signings

1. Davante Adams, WR: Signed by Los Angeles Rams
Adams is an immediate upgrade over Cooper Kupp given his ability to still shake press coverage and separate as the “X” receiver. Opposite Puka Nacua, Adams can isolate to win one-on-one or attack the schemed voids in Sean McVay’s pass game.

With five straight seasons of 1,000-plus receiving yards, he is at the top of this list because he can elevate a Rams team primed to make a run in the NFC playoffs.

This is what makes Puka special. Guts, determination.

slant/bench route — not perfect throw but Puka sells out … love this guy pic.twitter.com/fNhdpgfHVb

— Jim Youngblood 53 (@53_jim70721) July 16, 2025

“He could be the missing piece.”
Braden Fiske on what Poona Ford brings to the Rams defensive line.#RamsHouse #LARams #PoonaFord #BradenFiske #NFLTrainingCamp #LAFB pic.twitter.com/CV4evg3fH7

— LAFB Network (@LAFBNetwork) July 22, 2025

Rob Havenstein says he’s a full go for training camp despite offseason shoulder procedure. pic.twitter.com/UeCOmgZ6U4

— ryan anderson (@RLAndersonLAFB) July 22, 2025