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znModeratorRAMZILLA@elitster
Listening to Flying Coach w Peter Schrager/Coach McVay it’s been great hearing the behind the scenes w Zac Taylor, Matt LaFleur. Sounds like LaFleur could disagree w McVay keep him grounded/humble/identify blind spots. Who on the Rams coaching staff is doing that now?znModeratorinteresting
Did you read Rodrigue on drafting Bobby Brown? It’s here: http://theramshuddle.com/topic/rams-117-bobby-brown/#post-130469
If he is even half of what they claim he is, what a score.
znModeratorInside Rams’ scouting of DT Bobby Brown III, from laugh-out-loud domination on tape to long-term fit
Jourdan Rodrigue
The third day of the draft is usually a big dart-throwing project, as teams try to add players who may — or may not — one day be contributors on their roster. But for the Rams, establishing a rate of success when picking these later-round prospects — and then developing them from fourth-rounder or later to role-player in the lineup — is actually crucial to their team-building model. How do they identify these prospects — and how do they match their data and analytics team’s findings with what their scouts are watching on film and experiencing when interacting with players in person?
In this three-part series, The Athletic goes behind the scenes of the Rams’ process, focusing on their first three draft picks of Day 3: Defensive tackle Bobby Brown III, cornerback Robert Rochell and tight end Jacob Harris.
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Rams senior personnel executive Brian Xanders was just a few plays into his study of then-Texas A&M defensive tackle Bobby Brown III’s film when he started chuckling. Brown was, quite literally, everywhere — and he was doing some damage, too.
“He played nose tackle, five-technique and three-technique,” Xanders said. “Literally all three of our defensive line positions, he’s played them all.”
Xanders saw Brown hit a guard so hard that his legs buckled and split out from under him. He saw Brown block a couple of kicks on special teams. And then he got to the offensive cut-ups — yes, you read that right.
“And then they also put him on offense as a goal-line fullback,” laughed Xanders. “So there’s plays of him running right through the defensive line, just crushing them.”
Xanders began work on what is called a “cross check” on Brown in February as a part of the Rams’ typical process. First, Brown had been studied for several months throughout 2020 by area scout Steve Kazor, and then Kazor’s reports on Brown landed on Xanders’ desk. Scouts and personnel people often intersect on their evaluations of prospects so that a variety of opinions and observations about that prospect can come to light, and for the Rams, area scouts are hugely important in setting the first “draft boards” and then providing updates and input as cross-checkers weigh in.
The Rams had not caught a ton of additional buzz on Brown via external boards through the pre-draft process in the spring (such as media draft boards, top-50 or top-100 lists or even in standard press clippings), but because Kazor had done a good deal of work on Brown by the time his report got to Xanders’ desk, Xanders was intrigued by Brown’s measurables and Kazor’s notes on his power within certain plays and alignments. He also had a light afternoon — so he decided to watch all of the defensive tackle’s snaps in one sitting.
“I had a lot of time that day, so I loaded up his entire career — the pass-rush, and then the run defense,” he said. “He was a fun eval.”
Three things stuck out to Xanders about Brown: His frame (6-foot-4, 325 pounds with a seven-foot wingspan), the torque and anchor with which he maneuvered and held his gaps (“they tried to double-team him and they’d just stand on the line of scrimmage, they got no movement,” Xanders said), his toughness off of blocks (“he destroyed whole blocking schemes”) and of course, his versatility.
“Some of the big splash plays were impressive, because he’s going through double-teams and knocking the guard into the backfield, and then the tight end falls down and then he falls into the running back,” Xanders said. “There were just some really powerful plays that stood out. And I’m like, ‘This guy … this guy could be a scheme fit in all three (interior defensive line) positions — in a massive body. He was an interesting eval.”
By the time a team gets to the fourth round of the draft, they know they won’t always find a “complete” player, and so smart teams match specific traits of prospects to those needed within their positional rotations — like a small puzzle piece slotting into a much larger image. After the 2020 college football season was derailed by COVID-19, teams also knew that projecting players’ development into their respective systems would be harder than ever.
Especially starting in the fourth round this draft, the Rams focused on prospects with hyper-athletic traits and measurables, then tried to match those with the player’s frame and their understanding of how his frame will mature, plus data points within either the on-field testing process, their own person-to-person intel, and/or the medical evaluation process that backed up what they saw on tape. The idea was to take care of the things “you can’t coach” (physical gifts), even if they were more raw than the typical prospect in a “normal” year, and then rely on pairing those players with assistants such as (in Brown’s case) defensive line coach Eric Henderson to help turn the prospect into a more “complete” player — or even simply into an important role-player.
In a fourth-round defensive lineman, for example, the Rams of course weren’t looking for a Day 1 starter — but they were looking for long arms/wide shoulders and wingspan, plus moldable power and torque that projects well into their gap-and-a-half defensive scheme. In Brown — similarly to their evaluation of Sebastian Joseph-Day, who they previously drafted in the sixth round — they see a player whose ceiling is as a starter, yet whose floor can still be as a key role-player based on athleticism alone, and whose flashes of versatility were an added bonus in their grading of him.
The Rams began their intel process on other teams’ draft boards as the third round drew to a close on Friday night, and cross-referenced them with their own. There was an emphasis on adding more picks beginning on Day 3, multiple sources told The Athletic at the time, but they also knew that if Brown fell to them at No. 117 (obtained via previous trade with San Francisco), he was a prospect for whom they would stay at the pick point and find another place to trade back.
Early Saturday morning, before the final day of the draft began, Rams senior personnel advisor Taylor Morton and his staff called their sources at Texas A&M and elsewhere to double check that there weren’t any red flags on Brown, because despite his tape and strong athletic traits he had still fallen out of the second day of the draft.
“(General manager Les Snead) is the type where he’s going to dot every ‘I’ and cross every ‘T’,” Morton said. “He’s so thorough and demands us to be so thorough. So first thing that morning, I’m calling around to people I know … triple checking our sources and even digging for more sources, and just confirming all of the data that we’ve collected over all these months. And everybody gave their thumbs up on Bobby Brown.”
Xanders and Morton say they don’t know why he made it to them at that pick point (Xanders speculated that some teams may have been leery of his relatively limited experience, with just 18 starts in his collegiate career).
“It’s the same thing, kind of, that happened with (Joseph-Day),” said Morton. “How did we get him in the sixth round? … To get Bobby Brown in the fourth round, people ask ‘why’ because (of his physical traits) and because, when he wants to, he can dominate the line of scrimmage. We’re hoping that he can develop.”
Xanders and Henderson — who were working remotely with Snead in his garage and a small group of staff at the Rams’ draft house in Malibu, Calif. — began texting Snead as their pick drew closer, continuing to pitch Brown.
“We were texting back and forth, I was texting Coach Henny, it was a fun day,” said Xanders. “You just hope for the best — like, ‘If we take him, it’s our job to help him fit in our environment and culture. It’s his job to create his own role.’ Just like every other rookie. Nothing is handed to anybody in this league – it’s a meritocracy, the NFL. Everything is earned, and everything is created by that player creating their own opportunities.”
Brown is just 20 years old — launched into Los Angeles and the world of the NFL before he can even legally crack a beer to celebrate it. Xanders said the Rams’ defensive staff saw a lack of “wear-and-tear” on Brown as a bonus — not just for health reasons, but also because they believe it makes him more malleable as a prospect (in just a year or two, he’ll have taken less practice reps outside of their system than within it).
Having Brown, who will only be turning 24 by the time his second contract comes up, learn about the NFL in a position room with three-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald was also one of the reasons the staff felt comfortable drafting him despite his young age.
“I think that’s the No. 1 asset for Bobby Brown, and I said it in our meetings,” Morton said. “He’s got all this talent, and then you put him in the room with professional, grown men like Aaron Donald. There’s peer pressure there. Usually, those kind of guys, they’re going to rise to the occasion — to that peer pressure. And (Brown) is an intelligent person. So when he gets in the room with (Donald), he knows that now he’s in a business. He’s not in college anymore — he’s in a business with grown men … it’ll definitely get him going in the right direction.”
Another reason was Henderson, whose voice was prominent in the discussion on Brown and who Brown said stayed in touch with him throughout the pre-draft process.
“With all the hard work and how tough (Henderson) is on all players,” said Xanders, “how great a coach he is with enforcing accountability and coachability whether it’s Aaron Donald or all the way down to the practice squad defensive linemen … we felt that adding (Brown) in there, there’s nowhere to go but up.”
znModeratorDan Orlovsky@danorlovsky7
Me thinks, contrary to what they may say publicly to us, the @packers front office rrrreeeaaallllyyyy doesn’t “want” to do everything they can do have Rodgers come backMike Tannenbaum@RealTannenbaum
I see it differently, why wouldn’t they want the reigning MVP, who took them to back to back Championship games and is under contract for 3 years to come back?Dan Orlovsky@danorlovsky7
Bc they don’t care for the person anymore==
The Packers continue to press all the wrong buttons in their statedown with Aaron Rodgers. Mark Murphy's words and actions keep proving the QB right https://t.co/0eY9zQL3uV
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) June 14, 2021
znModeratorInside Rams’ scouting of Jacob Harris: From ‘unicorn’ measurables to an ‘analytics pick’ — how he’ll be molded
Jourdan Rodrigue
The third day of the draft is usually a big dart-throwing project, as teams try to add players who may — or may not — one day be contributors on their roster. But for the Rams, establishing a rate of success when picking these later-round prospects — and then developing them from fourth-rounder or later to role-player in the lineup — is crucial to their team-building model. How do they identify these prospects — and how do they match their data and analytics team’s findings with what their scouts are watching on film and experiencing when interacting with players in person?
In this three-part series, The Athletic goes behind the scenes of the Rams’ process, focusing on their first three draft picks of Day 3: Defensive tackle Bobby Brown III, cornerback Robert Rochell and tight end Jacob Harris.
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Two years ago, Rams’ Southeastern scout Michael Pierce was on a routine visit to the University of Central Florida and had positioned himself near the corner of the end zone as the Knights worked through their red zone period.
Then-redshirt junior receiver Jacob Harris ran a fade, and the quarterback lofted up a pass — perhaps too high, it first appeared. But suddenly, Harris’ cleats were nearly even with Pierce’s head. He pulled down the catch inbounds, and Pierce tracked him closely from that day until the Rams drafted him at No. 141 in April.
“I’m like, ‘Man, this guy is jumping — his feet are at my head!” Pierce said. “That was a first exposure. Of course, seeing his long frame and seeing him move — that jumped out early. But (that play) was my first exposure.
“Even (the year before he declared for the draft), I can remember thinking, ‘I would love to have this guy on our team.’”
After he was drafted, Harris was described by a source to The Athletic as a “total analytics pick,” a raw prospect offensively who would certainly make the 53-man roster because, outside of his status as a fourth-rounder, he would be expected to activate even to the game day roster each week as a key special-teams contributor. Harris, who is 6-foot-5 and about 215 pounds, technically has just about one full year of relevant live offensive snaps under his belt but was special-teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis’ favorite player in the draft because of his vigor in that phase.
But between then and the Rams’ conclusion of minicamp last week, something notable has been unfolding: Where young players often seem to develop in increments almost too minimal for the untrained eye to track, Harris has seemed to chew off large chunks of the learning curve. In fact, it seems Harris has become a “special project” player for both tight ends coach Wes Phillips — with whom Harris is constantly in orbit receiving instruction — and head coach Sean McVay, who has taken extra time with the rookie during drills on more than one occasion. With veteran No. 1 tight end Tyler Higbee not practicing, McVay also placed Harris into the first-team reps in seven-on-sevens through the entirety of minicamp after building his workload in OTAs the two weeks prior. Seven-on-sevens are run at nearly full speed and built to test mental dexterity in a semi-live situation and stress the mind at a faster rate. To see a rookie not only jump over more veteran players on the roster for those reps — and then thrive in them — is rare air, even without the pads on yet.
“I think he’s just earned it,” said McVay of Harris’ increased role over a rapid period. “I think he’s a guy that has a tremendous amount of upside. Wes Phillips has done a really nice job of getting him up to speed. His natural range, catch radius, body control for a player of his size is pretty rare. I think you guys can see — for NFL guys to stand out the way that he has done, in some of these limited settings, in shorts and in helmets, he’s definitely made a positive impression.”
McVay added that he plans to align Harris in a variety of positions along the line of scrimmage, which means he’ll be in less of the “traditional” tight end role and more of a mismatch option specifically in the passing game. That’s also what Pierce saw in Harris throughout his two years of scouting him.
“If you think that he can be a tight end — which, I think he can be a tight end — then you say, ‘Let him develop, and he’ll win a spot at tight end because he’s so athletic, so fast, he can jump so high and he has that determination that you want out of the position,’” Pierce said. “But then you think, ‘OK, he can be a receiver’ because he’s got that top-shelf speed, he can really get to the top of coverage, he can jump and attack the ball — at the same time, he has some development (needed) … he’s an interesting one.
“I know everyone will (look at) the position and say, ‘What is he?’ but we’ll figure that out.”
In fact, the Rams’ analysts believe that by throwing him in the tight ends room (yet still aligning him virtually everywhere in the passing game) instead of keeping him at strictly wide receiver, Harris’ probability of contributing earlier in his career increases.
“I have done some studies over the past few years, looking at positions where, in those later rounds, what is going to give you the most success?” said Sarah Bailey, who is a manager in the Rams’ football analytics department. “And tight end is one of those positions where the athlete has more probability of actually making it.
“I look at probability of playing, and when he switched his position from wideout to tight end, he actually increased his probability of playing by almost 20 percent. From my perspective, that was a huge ‘Whoa.’ Take it with a grain of salt — you’re still that (fourth-rounder) — but to have that big of an increase, and then you look at his play style and his body type and he could actually fit that mold, too, it doesn’t seem like it might just be an outlier.”
The Rams’ data piles for speed testing (including within its various combinations that match speed with weight, speed with wingspan, etc.) are color-coded. Harris’ data was “all blue,” which means his measurables ranked in the top 10 percent of their overall data pool.
“(Our system) puts him into a percentile of where current pro players are,” Bailey said. “So that’s the top of the percentile … What really stood out was not only his long speed, but his short speed … his three-cone immediately and some of his jumping.”
The Rams’ own measurement systems and evaluation programming aren’t public information (for example, while the public has access to things like 40-times and testing numbers filed at pro days or the NFL combine, the Rams also weigh those against privately-obtained measurables such as GPS tracking data, long-term body composition projections and more), but Harris’ public testing numbers also resulted in a RAS (Relative Athletic Score) of 9.88 out of a possible 10.0 as a receiver — No. 31 out of 2,517 receivers publicly tested since 1987. When his position is switched to tight end in the scoring system, Harris’ speed composite is 9.71, his explosiveness composite is 9.945 and his agility composite is 8.84 — all categorized as either “great” or “elite” via the RAS system.
For reference, No. 4 overall pick Kyle Pitts — lauded as one of the best tight end and overall receiving prospects in a draft class in years — had a RAS of 9.66. Pitts, of course, has the added polish of experience and acumen specifically as a pass catcher, while Harris is considered “moldable” because he has only a few years of football experience after switching over from soccer in college.
Harris’ size composite, however, ranks well-under average for the tight end position (“poor” per RAS). But this is where the Rams will try to blend data with coaching and development — because even though Harris is undersized for a tight end, by placing him in that position group they believe they are increasing his contribution probability as long as they are also able to scheme him in accordance with his athletic traits as a receiver. And, it seems, they are less concerned with “traditional” tight end traits (such as blocking) than they are impressed with Harris’ measurables as they translate into specifically the passing game and his special-teams ability.
“We can be creative with Jacob,” Pierce said. “If you put him at tight end, you could say he’s one of the most athletic tight ends you would look at coming out. He’s as athletic as Pitts if you look at him at tight end. And then at wide receiver, you see maybe one of the most dynamic deep-ball threats as well. My emphasis (in presenting Harris as a prospect) was, ‘He’s moldable.’”
“You say these guys, you have ‘high ceilings and low floors,’” Bailey added, “but he doesn’t have a low floor. His ceiling is high enough to compensate for the risk that you take. … He had the right attributes at that pick. You’re not getting a second-round guy where you’re like, ‘he’s for sure a tight end, he’s for sure this (or that).’ You’re a (fourth-round) guy, you have a really good ceiling.”
Bailey and Pierce also alluded to Harris’ above-average scoring in mental tests and personality evaluations. Pierce said that throughout the evaluation process, Harris was a prospect who, if a coach or scout reached out wanting to have a conversation, he’d call them immediately.
“He’s mature, he has it figured out. He has a why, he’s a genuine person,” Pierce said. “You see all of those things (and) hear all of those things. You get a feel for it when you speak to him. It just really checks the box … (Reports on) him in school, with coaches and all of the staff, it checks off when you talk to him as well. He was an easy interview.”
Harris will still have a long developmental journey ahead and especially so when the pads finally go on in training camp and the real work begins. But Pierce has been scouting and evaluating players for the Rams for over six years, and from that first red zone play over two years ago until the Rams sent in the draft card at about 10:44 a.m. on that Saturday, he has had a feeling in his gut about Harris and his potential.
“You study thousands of players, and you look back 10 years from now and you automatically know those guys,” Pierce said. “In essence, sometimes I call them ‘unicorns.’”
Said Bailey, “I have (drawn) stars on my notes, like, ‘This is the guy you want to bet on.’ It’s really been, the last two years, (about) emphasizing: ‘Hey, if you’re gonna bet on a guy, bet on an athlete.’
“This is what we have with this guy. We have an athlete.”
znModeratorfrom https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2021/06/14/rams-cooper-kupp-brad-holmes-senior-bowl/
Lions GM Brad Holmes, who was formerly the Rams’ director of college scouting from 2013-2020, shared a story of how Kupp stood out at the Senior Bowl in 2017, which really caught the Rams’ eye. His testing numbers weren’t the best, but he was uncoverable at the Senior Bowl and his GPS time was the fastest in Mobile.
“I’ve told the Cooper Kupp story — that’s more of cognitive bias, in terms of just every time you saw him play football, the guy was good, you liked him. But I remember we saw him at the Senior Bowl, he was the best player on the field. Nobody can cover this dude. He looked explosive. And his shuttle and all that kind of reflected that, but his 40 time was in the 4.6s. He did it at the combine and at the pro day, so the last thing in your head was that 4.6,” Holmes told Chris Burke of The Athletic.
“But, I’ll never forget, it came out that his GPS time at the Senior Bowl was the fastest. So, it’s like, “OK, now that makes sense.” But it was because he was playing football. He looked fast, he looked explosive on the football field. In tights, on that Eastern Washington track, it didn’t look fast.”
znModeratorfrom Adam Schein:
https://www.nfl.com/news/nine-nfl-bandwagons-to-hop-on-in-2021-tennessee-titans-joe-burrow-and-brandon-stCam Akers
Los Angeles Rams · RB
I am very high on the Rams this year, believing they will represent the NFC in the L.A. Super Bowl. Akers is a huge part of that. He became the guy at running back down the stretch last season, and it changed the Rams’ offense. While Jared Goff was morphing into a double agent at quarterback — giving the ball to the other team at an alarming rate — Akers was emerging as a star.Everyone took notice during his boffo effort in the Week 14 win over the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football. Twenty-nine carries for 171 yards against Bill Belichick’s defense turns heads. But that wasn’t a one-off. The guy was a stud in L.A.’s two playoff games, piling up 221 rushing yards and two touchdowns, along with 51 receiving yards.
I spoke with Sean McVay on SiriusXM Radio a few weeks ago, and the Rams coach raved about his running back’s versatility. He’s clearly excited about what Akers can offer in Year 2. I think the former second-round pick can become a legit top-10 running back this year for a championship-caliber team. I loved Jonathan Taylor and D’Andre Swift at running back in the 2020 draft. I’m still on board, especially with Taylor. But don’t sleep on Akers.
znModeratorThe Rams have a trio of options behind Tyler Higbee, but who will step up as TE2? https://t.co/jkZiisavQE
— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) June 14, 2021
znModeratorGreg Kelly appears to have deleted this tweet, but Google's cache captured it. https://t.co/dtBEylTA0x pic.twitter.com/vwenWGMe1X
— Philip Bump (@pbump) June 14, 2021
znModeratorEvan Silva@evansilva
Lombardi says #Rams were willing to trade Robert Woods (possibly for third-round pick) to make room for Julio Jones. Deals just never came together.HoldenCantor@HoldenCantor
Falcons probably wanted woods + a pick in return for Julio and I’m sure that’s when the Rams moved on. Woods is in his prime, reliable, severely underrated and there’s no way in heck Sean McVay was trading him.znModeratorWell, the thing was is that they weren’t doing what Jared’s really good at, which is getting in the shotgun and letting him go through progressions and letting him throw the football around. He was under center, faking jet sweeps, play-action passes…
is that actually true? career wise he’s been better under center. significantly better. and even in 2020 he was still slightly better under center.
i think the big problem is that the running game has been not what it was.
I think his college coach said that about him. He was being more of a good Goff loyalist when he said that then a good NFL qb analyst. JG thrived in a play action game. But his college coach was angry when he said that, he saw Jared as being mistreated and scapegoated.
znModeratorEisen covers a lot of relevant ground.
…
znModeratorJune 13, 2021 at 4:58 am in reply to: NFL practice squads could remain at 16 players for the 2021 season #130449znModeratorThe cost of your IR list. Every time you add a player, you will need to replace him with another player costing at least the minimum wage. Any thing between $5-$7 million is a low cost for this. imo
.
I would figure a total of $11 million every year to just do business.
.
The Rams have about $7 or $8 million dollars of Cap Space.Thank you!
At least with the IR money if you luck out and don’t have several replacements, you can roll that money into the following year’s cap, right?
…
znModeratorRocha "decided to take her graduation pictures in the farm fields where she worked with her parents since she was in high school," she told ABC San Diego. https://t.co/vrQs2WVyXW
— Max Burns (@themaxburns) June 12, 2021
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znModeratorHow Shane Waldron’s Seahawks offense could be great for Russell Wilson https://t.co/2VRAmqzn2s
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) June 12, 2021
znModeratorCalifornia police officers kicked and punched a 17-year-old who was "suspected" of theft inside a Dick's Sporting Goods. #SurvivingAmericasPolice pic.twitter.com/DJ4JRMuM94
— Lance Cooper (@lmauricecpr) June 10, 2021
znModeratorICYMI: over a year ago I warned the American public how corrupt Bill Barr was! Now the truth is coming out!
Lev Parnas: 'Attorney General Barr was basically on the team.' #LevRemembers https://t.co/bIjnycyQpt— Lev Parnas (@levparnas) June 11, 2021
znModeratorSean McVay shared that he’s fond of what he’s seen from rookie running back Jake Funk in the offseason program.
“He’s a mature rookie. I think he’s really taken to (RBs coach) Thomas Brown. What a great job Thomas does as a coach really helping these guys grow,” McVay said. “And because you get a little bit of extra time with rookies with some of the meetings and some of the things we added over the months these guys have been with us, you’ve really seen his growth, his comfort level (rise).”
znModeratorfrom Eric D. Williams, https://www.si.com/nfl/rams/news/la-rams-raheem-morris-brings-new-energy-to-defense
Tutu Atwell looked good getting in and out of his breaks and catching the ball, particularly on out-breaking routes along the sideline. Atwell is a natural hands catcher and showed no problems creating separation during 7-on-7 drills. Interested to see how he plays in pads during training camp.
* Second-year pro Bryce Perkins looked more accurate throwing the ball, particularly outside the numbers. Perkins threw a handful of solid completions on out routes, doing a nice job of driving the football and hitting the receivers on time.
* Safety Jake Gervase is making the transition to linebacker. With a deep, talented group at safety, Gervase has a better shot of sticking around at linebacker if he can contribute on special teams.
* Defensive lineman Michael Hoecht, Eric Banks and rookie Bobby Brown III got some work with the first group with Aaron Donald not a minicamp and Sebastian Joseph-Day watching from the sidelines. Donald is not attending camp this week due to personal reasons, and head coach Sean McVay noted he had conversations with a few players about the potential of missing this week. Cornerback Darious Williams also did not attend minicamp.
* Jalen Ramsey was at practice this week and switched from No. 5 to No. 20. Second-year pro Cam Akers had switched from No. 3 to No. 23 but was back wearing No. 23 this week. DeSean Jackson, wearing No. 1, was at camp but watched the first day. Tight end Tyler Higbee also watched from the sidelines.
* Linebacker Travin Howard had a pick six during 7-on-7 and cornerback Kareem Orr also had an nice interception. Receiver Jaremiah Haydel has flashed during 7-on-7 workouts.
znModeratorThese were back-to-back plays for the 49ers offense. Donald is living on a different planet. pic.twitter.com/YOO69JMaxp
— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) June 11, 2021
znModeratorRampage2K
back from Sofi…..what a hoot!!!
It wasn’t much a practice to tell you the truth, more like a pregame warm up session, but I think it was much more than just a practice at the same time, if that makes any sense….
It was more of a celebration of the fans being allowed back in the stadium….it was awesome!!
we ended up in the front row about the 30 yard line after some luck with some “maneuvering” and then I somehow ended up in the VIP party on field level…haha
not much too report from the practice as it was pretty much just a warm up session , but fun nonetheless seeing our new QB1 slinging it around a bit….
Talked to KD and asked him again about the new uni, he says it will be sometime between July 1st and the start of training camp when it will be unveilled…still tight lipped about what color it will be
talked to and got pics with Rams legends Leroy Irvin, Dickerson, Issac Bruce and also celebrity fan Danny Trejo, and NFL Networks Omar Ruiz
way too much fun!!! cant wait for some real football
post some pics soon
znModeratorit’s very encouraging to read that harris is taking reps with the first team
Or is he a teacher’s pet?
Don’t mean to sound so cynical. But if he actually is more advanced than Hopkins at this point–and as a just-a-few-weeks-in-the-league rookie–then I wonder about Hopkins.
znModeratorMcVay should just be quiet.
mcvay is only 35 years old. maybe the best thing for goff would be not to be with a coach so inexperienced. and maybe mcvay needs an experienced qb like stafford to help him grow. i don’t know.
I agree with both them there remarks. 😎
znModeratorA cop flipped over a pregnant woman’s car because she didn’t pull over quick enough.
That was insane.
I know it was just another drop in the bucket.
But it’s still insane.
..
znModerator‘I was completely inside’: Lobster diver swallowed by humpback whale off Provincetown
PROVINCETOWN — At a little before 8 a.m., Friday, veteran lobster diver Michael Packard entered the water for his second dive of the day.
His vessel, “the J ‘an J,” was right off Herring Cove Beach and surrounded by a fleet of boats catching striped bass. The water temperature was a balmy 60 degrees and he estimated the visibility he estimated at 20 feet.
Lobster divers literally pluck lobsters off the sandy bottom, and as he dove down, he saw schools of sand lances and stripers swimming by. The ocean food chain was in full evidence, but about 35 feet down, 10 feet from the bottom, he entered that food chain in a startling and rare way.
Packard, 56, was literally swallowed by a humpback whale.
Lobster diver Michael Packard, 56, of Wellfleet, gives the thumbs up Friday morning from Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, where he was taken after he was injured in an encounter with a humpback whale Provincetown. He was later released from the hospital.
“All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove and the next thing I knew it was completely black,” Packard recalled Friday afternoon following his release from Cape Cod Hospital. “I could sense I was moving, and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth.”Initially, Packard thought he was inside a great white shark, but he couldn’t feel any teeth and he hadn’t suffered any obvious wounds. It dawned on him that he’d been swallowed.
“I was completely inside (the whale); it was completely black,” Packard said. “I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way I’m getting out of here. I’m done, I’m dead. All I could think of was my boys, they’re 12 and 15 years old.”
He struggled and the whale began shaking his head so that Packard could tell he didn’t like it. He estimated he was in the whale for 30 to 40 seconds before the whale finally surfaced.
“I saw light, and he started throwing his head side-to-side and the next thing I knew I was outside (in the water),” Packard said.
His mate Josiah Mayo saw the explosion of water as the whale surfaced and Packard was ejected. He plucked Packard out of the water, called to shore on the radio and headed in.
“My first thought was I can’t believe I got out of that situation. My second thought was for how injured I was,” Packard said.
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Considering he was swallowed and ejected from a whale, his injuries were surprisingly few. Initially, it was thought he had a broken leg, but Packard said by phone Friday afternoon that he’d suffered a lot of soft tissue damage.“But I’m good overall,” he said.
Expert: Incident was accident
“Based on what was described this would have to be a mistake and an accident on the part of the humpback,” said Jooke Robbins, director of Humpback Whale Studies at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown. Humpbacks are not aggressive animals, particularly towards humans.From the whale description as being on the small side, Robbins suspects it was a juvenile feeding on the sand lance. When humpback mouths open to feed, said Robbins, they can block their forward vision which is why so many become entangled in fishing gear in their mouth and jaws.
Still, humpbacks injuring humans, especially instances of swallowing them, are so exceedingly rare, Robbins said.
“It is not something I have heard happening before,” she said. “So many things would have had to happen to end up in the path of a feeding whale.”
Charles “Stormy” Mayo, a senior scientist and whale expert at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, agreed that this is exceedingly rare.
“People direct dive on them (humpbacks) in the tropics, not here. In those places I’m not aware of a single incident of people having problems with them,” Mayo said.
Packard crewman Josiah Mayo is Stormy Mayo’s son.
“Michael (Packard) is a smart guy and an exceptional diver,” said Stormy Mayo. “For that to happen to him, you can be sure he did everything he was supposed to do.”
What do lobster divers do?
Commercial lobster divers are a tough breed. They brave the cold waters off Provincetown to grab migrating lobsters off a sandy shelf when they emerge from an adjacent deep channel and pause to acclimate to the somewhat warmer water.The Provincetown-based vessel commercial lobster diver Michael Packard was working from Friday morning off Herring Cove Beach. While in the mouth of the whale, “I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way I’m getting out of here. I’m done, I’m dead.’ All I could think of was my boys — they’re 12 and 15 years old.”
The crewman topside follows the bubbles of the diver below as he or she drifts with the strong current. It’s a spot that is fraught with danger and commercial lobster divers have seen more than their share of close calls and tragedy.Sharks and seals:Here’s what you need to know about the animals off Cape Cod
“Thank god, it wasn’t a white shark. He sees them all the time out there,” Cynthia Packard, Michael’s sister, said. “He must have thought he was done.”
The call came in over the police/fire scanner at 8:13 a.m. that a diver had suffered serious injuries to the legs after interacting with a whale, said Provincetown Fire Chief Michael Trovato
znModeratordpjax
6/10 Rams practice report
I was at SoFi yesterday and have to say the place is amazing. Our seats were at field level and besides being really close to the action the place is just loud. When that place is full of fans it will really be something to behold. I wanted to study player #’s before I went but got too busy with work to do that so besides the obvious player’s I was going in blind as to who was who.
Two players that stood out to me, one on offense and one on defense were #22 and #87. When I got home I found out that they were David Long Jr and Jacob Harris. #22 seemed quick and was around the ball all day and had what I think was the only interception of the day in 7 on 7’s , which I believe was against Wolford. Looks like Long may be starting to Blossom, fingers crossed. #87 is a physical specimen, you couldn’t help but notice him. The thing that stood out about Harris was his ability to adjust to the ball, so natural and seemingly effortless, and catches everything that comes his way. How well he moves in relation to his size is very impressive. Others who stood out to me were DeSaun Jackson, very fluid and confident, Van Jefferson made a couple of nice catches, and I have to say Tutu Atwell impressed me. Count me as one who was less than pleased with that pick on draft day. Other than standing out for being the smallest guy on the field, he seemed to have good hands, made some tough catches in traffic, and of course speed to burn as advertised. Tutu also seemed very engaged. Of course we all know what we’ve got in Stafford. Wolford looked pretty accurate although he did have that one interception but that just seemed like a nice play by Long. The other two QBs, #16 and #19 had some nice throws but overall the way they moved just seemed frantic like things were almost moving too fast for them, especially #19. You could always tell when Stafford was dropping back because he looks so in command.
Leonard Floyd was doing alot of extra one on one work in addition to all the drills with the LBers group. Not sure if he’s working through something or just wanted to get the extra reps in. It was also nice to see him engaging with some of the fans.
The D Lineman were doing their drills right in front of us so it was a little disappointing that 99 wasn’t there, but hey. it’s AD. Who did stand out to me was #94, I know I should know who that is but now I know, it’s A’Shawn! Powerful and quick, he has really transformed his body, looking lean and mean. They were doing this one drill where they get their arm extended with their hand on another players upper chest/shoulder/throat and push them sideways, and A’Shawn consistently had the other player stumbling back where others were able to keep their balance defending against that drill.Did I mention the stadium was loud?
Oh, and the leg room is way better than the Staple Center!After the practice was over we went all the way to the top row in the back corner of the end zone to check out the view. Amazing! (I’ll post some pics when I get them from my friend.) The atmosphere after practice was very relaxed, no one was trying to usher us out, they just let us wonder around for an hour or so to see as much of the stadium as we wanted.
znModeratorfrom https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2021/06/11/rams-sean-mcvay-better-mood-offseason-goff-stafford/
[McVay on Stafford]
“So this guy, he’s a special guy,” McVay said. “I think one of the best ways that I can describe him, when you hear people that have been around him, there’s a known confidence where when he walks into a room, you always feel his presence. But he’s got a great humility about himself that everybody loves being around him. He’s one of those guys that I think is a true igniter. Makes everybody around him better. I feel like I’ve become a better coach in the few months that we’ve been able to spend together and we’re looking forward to doing a lot of good things together.”
…
After the Rams wrapped up practice, McVay met with members of the media for his usual press conference. And while he said he was still in a good mood, he opened the media session by saying his words were taken out of context and his comments weren’t about Goff being gone.
He clarified that he’s excited about the team as a whole, and it’s not exclusively about the quarterback change.
“I hate that I even have to say this, but I think I made a comment earlier that was definitely taken out of context. I am very excited, I have been in a good mood because of the confidence that I have in this team,” McVay added. “But by no means is that a slight to anybody like Jared, who has done a phenomenal job for the last four years here. I hated that I even have to address that, but I do think out of respect for him and all the good things he’s done. I am in a good mood, but that doesn’t mean it’s not because we’re working together, or because of just Stafford exclusively. There’s a lot of good things going on that I feel really good about and I’m confident about.”
znModeratorWe’re talkin @RamsNFL new-look offense with Matthew Stafford…
What can we expect the QB to bring to LA this season? 👇 (via @NFLTotalAccess) pic.twitter.com/36Ee2QDGWT
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) June 11, 2021
znModeratorBengals coach Zac Taylor spent two years with the Los Angeles Rams on Sean McVay’s staff in 2017 and 2018, first as an assistant wide receivers coach and then as the quarterbacks coach. He worked closely with Cooper Kupp during his time in L.A. and now he’ll get to coach Ja’Marr Chase, the star rookie out of LSU who was the first receiver drafted this year.
[Taylor said Chase is] … “Similar to Cooper Kupp in the sense that he’s got unbelievable body control. He’s running full speed but when he judges where the ball is at, he can shut his body down and have that great control to have that great run after the catch to maximize it. Oh yeah, and is hard to bring down on first contact just like Cooper. He usually makes that first guy miss or pulls through the tackle and then he’s got the top-end speed.”
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