Rams OL working through new combinations in OTAs, hoping to leave 2022 behindone.”

The Rams got a punter with a powerful leg when they selected Ethan Evans out of Division II Wingate this year https://t.co/5a98ekww7m

— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) May 29, 2023

Ethan Schmidt, the right-wing activist who went viral for destroying Pride merchandise in Target, has been active on gay dating apps for several years. pic.twitter.com/y2gTSngDy3

— Travis Akers (@travisakers) May 28, 2023

…

You know that Ethan Schmidt guy who is attacking Target LGBTQ+ merch?

Guess he spent a lot of time on Grindr in Arizona and few people are saying they recognize him from umm face to face meetings.

Free yourself, you'll be so much happier and healthier. pic.twitter.com/0jsbRT5CTI

— AskAubry 🦝 (@ask_aubry) May 28, 2023

from https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2023/5/27/23739681/rams-undrafted-free-agents-rashad-torrence
.

The Draft Network’s Justin Melo says that safety Rashad Torrence II out of Florida has a good chance to make the Rams final roster. Here’s what Melo had to say about the Rams undrafted free agents and Torrence in particular,

“Former Florida safety Rashad Torrence II is the standout among the group. Torrence could play himself into a significant year-one role…Torrence was a versatile playmaker at Florida, lining up at several different positions. He especially thrived when playing as a deep safety. Seeing the offensive action develop from a bird’s-eye view allowed Torrence to come downhill and make a bunch of tackles in the box. Football IQ and play recognition led to three interceptions for Torrence. He also proved capable of covering tight ends in man-coverage scenarios…In Raheem Morris’ defense, Torrence best projects to play near the line of scrimmage due to his limited athletic profile. It’s a role Torrence can carve a successful career out of. Write off Torrence at your own peril…The Rams’ depth chart is completely barren of proven talent at the safety position. It’s headed for an equal-opportunity summer with a may-the-best-man-win approach. Torrence possesses an opportunity to start for the Rams this season

…

from https://www.nfl.com/prospects/rashad-torrence-ii/3200544f-5269-4955-846e-142194cb85e8

Only two St.Louis Rams left 🐏 pic.twitter.com/eOGizE8Hyt

— HoldenCantor (@HoldenCantor) May 26, 2023

wv wrote:

Retaining McVay. Well, that may be true, I dunno. Mc-Snead, in five years, brought the Rams an NFC championship (tainted by the pass-interference noncall) and a big beautiful Super Bowl Ring. So, I’m always gonna be on team-Mc-Snead. Mc-Snead and DV-MM. The two best combos during my ram-years. (post 1968) But this will be a most inter esting year for Mc-Snead. What can they do when they dont have superior talent? Can they put together a team we all ‘like’, that plays scrappy, intelligent, hard-nosed football? The bar is a little low this year, we all know that. The bar is at 8-8. Can they surprise us, and put together a winner? Its a big year for McSnead. w v

..

zn wrote:

Logan Bruss

Weaknesses

Ends up second in race to land punch first. Needs to play with less predictable, more explosive hands. Too much weight drifts to his outside foot in his sets. Can be a little lazy with his outside hand in pass pro. Could use better attention to hand placement for block security. Needs to keep weight under his pads throughout the sustain phase. Had trouble playing too far out on his toes versus Penn State.

I know Bruss wasn’t ready in 2022 but then, a lot of Rams weren’t ready early in 2022. I considered it a team problem.

Looking at his weakness–leaning, oversetting, predictable hands, lazy outside hand sometimes, hand placement issues, has to keep weight under his pads–is all coachable stuff.

Strengths? It’s all innate stuff. Aware, athletic w/ good feet, good slider, can redirect, good core strength,  body control, leverage.

It just looks to me like the Rams are adjusting the OL to be more like the great one Brees had with the Saints in their best years–top strong guards who keep the pocket clean for the qb to step up.

From NFL’s most underappreciated players

Cynthia Frelund

https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-s-most-underappreciated-players-kirk-cousins-osa-odighizuwa-among-nfc-picks

Size difference between Matthew Stafford and Stetson Bennett is staggering in this shot. Might just be the position or angle but it’s interesting to see. I have Bennett at the #2 spot behind Stafford. Will the Rams carry 3 QB’s in the active 53 man roster? #RamsHouse @RamsNFL pic.twitter.com/xXmbGcHZz8

— Allen Sales (@AllenSales) May 24, 2023

Rams OTAs: Veterans collide with youth movement and more observations

Jourdan Rodrigue

https://theathletic.com/4546063/2023/05/24/rams-practice-rookies-quarterbacks/?source=emp_shared_article

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — When a team has been so top heavy with veteran players for as many years as the Rams have been, small juxtapositions to that really stand out.

For example, it’s been a while since they’ve started from “Step Zero” in developing a quarterback: A rookie specifically they have drafted, with the intent that he’ll mature into a reliable backup. Their starters and even previous backups have most recently been veteran players.

So we haven’t necessarily considered a detail like Stetson Bennett having never played football with an earpiece in his helmet, which connects to the play caller (in this case Sean McVay). College teams use signs and hand signals from the sideline, and, well, Bennett has played a lot of college football.

“I can just tell you that it’s (faster),” said Bennett of the transition to the NFL, “those D-linemen are coming. The hashes are a little bit different, so that makes for a shorter throw to the field but a longer throw to the boundary, and the routes are a little bit deeper here.

“The first day, I was kind of freaking out about the play calls. Stumbling over my words, a little bit. It’s weird to hear the play call from the earpiece, it’s just completely different from … what we did in college. But he was very helpful, ‘you’re good, you’re good.’ I’d have to ask him, like, twice.”

Doses of perspective like that are everywhere — reminders about the youthful state of the Rams’ current roster. There are so many rookies in this 2023 group, for example, they have to take a charter bus from their hotel/apartment cluster to Cal Lutheran every day instead of the usual 10-person van.

That will mean more hands-on coaching, at “Step Zero” instead of one, two, three or nine. Some drills look different. The all-rookie group of specialists get timed from their stance on the sideline to assembly of the kicking unit, establishing a new rhythm together. The younger quarterbacks, minus Matthew Stafford as he enters his 15th season, jog through the exact footsteps of a run fake down to the millisecond, because the Rams do it in a specific manner and they simply don’t know the precise movement of that run fake yet. Instead of automatically repping through the drill as more experienced quarterbacks have over the last few years, they break it down. Talk about it. Walk through it, jog through it, talk about it again.

The drilling is more down-to-the-studs because missing a step in the development process, for any of their dozens of rookies, might mean never recovering.

“We want to be able to maximize every single day,” McVay said. “When we’ve had the continuity that we’ve had in years past, you can really say, ‘Hey, these guys have played a lot of snaps (so) let’s make sure that we’re smart and cognizant of (finishing the season) in the middle of February. How do we get them ready to go by the time training camp starts and what’s the best way to supplement that?’ Whereas, you get better at football by being able to play it — especially with a lot of guys that haven’t done that. Really, this is the closest thing since 2018 in terms of actually doing some real team work.”

More from Rams OTAs

Note: Per the Rams’ policy, media with access to practice cannot report formations, personnel groups, deployment of personnel, starting lineups, unconventional plays, the number of reps players take at certain positions, etc.

• Neither Aaron Donald nor Cooper Kupp were present as this phase of OTAs began, but both were out for family reasons. Both players have been present for at least part of the voluntary workouts.

• Rookie fifth-round receiver Puka Nacua seems determined to take on a large mental workload right away as installation unfolds.

“Puka has done a nice job. He’s gotten some reps really in all three groups,” said Stafford, smiling. “Every time I look up, he’s running around somewhere.”

At one point Tuesday, McVay even pulled Nacua aside and worked with him individually on his release off the line of scrimmage.

• Fourth-year starting receiver Van Jefferson gave me a little bit of a scouting report on who to keep an eye on through OTAs, and Nacua was one of the young players he mentioned.

“He has come in and taken ownership of the playbook, and tried to learn the best he can,” Jefferson said. “You can just see how it (translates) on the field. He’s been having a great two days that he’s been out here.”

• Offensive guard Logan Bruss, the Rams’ third-round pick last season, is back to practicing although the staff will still be cautious with his knee. McVay said he had a full workload Monday, and was more limited Tuesday. They are also being more cautious with Joe Noteboom as he returns from an Achilles injury suffered last year. All other offensive linemen appeared to be full participants in Tuesday’s workout.

• Bennett noted that he has not taken any reps in 11-on-11 drills yet, and that is to be expected considering he is still learning the playbook. The Rams need to immediately get to work installing their second- and third-team offense (and execute competitive reps against a very inexperienced defense, so they can also grow).

That is where the addition of quarterback Brett Rypien, who signed with the Rams on a one-year deal this spring, makes sense. Rypien previously worked in a McVay/Kyle Shanahan system-adjacent offense while in Denver and while the play names and combinations change from offense to offense in this coaching tree, the general ethos is the same. Rypien, then, is able to get those groups the work they need while the Rams onboard Bennett and undrafted free-agent Dresser Winn. Rypien can also communicate different elements of this offense’s language when Stafford is working on another field, and the three younger quarterbacks split off with coach Zac Robinson.

“Brett is a pro’s pro. He knows how to go about it,” Bennett said. “He also already texted me like, ‘if you need any DoorDash or Uber Eats suggestions, I got you. …

“Little things like that, it helps. I mean, this is brand new for me.”

• All of the young defensive backs brought a high level of energy Tuesday, but second-year cornerback Derion Kendrick’s urgency especially stood out. He led off drills and sprinted through the ends of sideline-to-sideline footwork and ball-skills reps. When the defense ran sprints after the “Mamba” period near the end of practice (including McVay), Kendrick ran an extra one.

• There isn’t really any live football taking place through this part of OTAs. However, a few defensive backs still made plays where they could: Cornerback Richard LeCounte and safety Jordan Fuller both had interceptions, and cornerback Cameron McCutcheon showed impressive length with an outstretched pass breakup about midway through the day.

• Rookie defensive lineman Kobie Turner, the Rams’ No. 89 overall pick, is bigger than I thought he would be after draft analysts billed him as a smaller-profile player. On the edge, outside linebacker Michael Hoecht is listed at 310 pounds on the official roster but appears to have leaned out a little.

cap space tracker showing how much teams have committed to their top 3 cap guys, dead money, and the remainder of their roster – the rams rank 3rd in most $ to their top 3 guys, and 2nd in most $ to dead money, leaving them with the least amount of $ for the rest of the roster. pic.twitter.com/2xR2TOzJg8

— roberto clemente (@rclemente2121) May 21, 2023

BREAKING: The gay dating app Grindr says if Florida doesn't stop passing homophobic and transphobic laws, they'll reveal every Republican (GQP) legislator and party official who secretly uses the app. pic.twitter.com/aQ6WqvQsqg

— 🟧 Chuck And Jim 🏳️‍🌈 👬🐻🌊🌎 #IDWP #BlueCrew  (@fireman452a) March 24, 2023

When you’re such a racist you wreck your own car pic.twitter.com/g6Uudx0g3n

— Sarmad Faiz (@move2strike) May 17, 2023