There are a lot of challenges that come with having a roster as young and inexperienced as the Rams’. Players who are projected to be starters and key contributors don’t have many NFL snaps under their belt, which will surely lead to some growing pains throughout the early portion of the season.
But there’s also one major benefit both Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford have noticed already: the energy level.
During his press conference on Wednesday, McVay mentioned the Rams’ high energy level six times. Stafford also noted it, saying how fun it is to be around younger players who bring some juice to the field every day.
“It’s fun. It’s wild. These young guys bring a bunch of juice and it’s a lot of fun, both offensively and defensively,” Stafford said. “Both sides of the football had some big plays today, which was great. We’re going to need to continue to bring that energy and then continue to kind of fine tune the football aspect of it as well. So, it’s great. It’s good competition, good energy, that’s fun to be around.”
The Rams’ roster is wide open, with the exception of a few spots on the depth chart currently held by proven veterans like Stafford, Aaron Donald, Cooper Kupp, Rob Havenstein and others. But given the number of positions that need new starters, young players are trying to prove themselves every day in practice.
“I thought there was a good amount of energy on both sides,” McVay said. “I love the way guys responded, whether it was a positive or a negative play and so that was consistent with what you guys saw when you came out and saw us in the spring. I was really pleased to see that we picked up where we left off in those things. And there’s a lot of stuff that we can clean up, which is to be expected, but we got to continue to see improvement. But I do love the energy of this football team and it certainly makes it fun for us for sure.”
The defense, in particular, earned praise from McVay – specifically those in the secondary and the young edge rushers. He noted the fact that he could feel the presence of the Rams’ safeties, as well as the juice that Derion Kendrick and Cobie Durant have shown in practice this offseason.
As for the team’s three rookie edge rushers – Byron Young, Ochaun Mathis and Nick Hampton – McVay loves the versatility that they bring to the defense.
“Good energy. I think all three of those guys have complementary skillsets and (OLBs coach) Joe Coniglio does a great job of rotating guys through,” he said. “That’s such a young group, particularly at that outside linebacker position, and so you’ll see guys rolling through a bunch of different groups. I wouldn’t make too much of who’s rolling with the ones who’s rolling with the twos early on in camp. We just want to see these guys get reps in these actual 11-on-11 settings. Seeing a lot of improvement from those guys and they all bring a little bit different skill sets to the table that it’s almost like it makes it hard for those offensive linemen to settle in. It’s like a pitcher changing up his pitches when you’ve got different guys you got to account for, different skillsets that can play the run and the pass.”
With fewer established veterans on the team, the Rams will have fewer veteran rest days than usual – which allows them to get in more work as a complete team. Based on the comments made by McVay and Stafford, and others all offseason, there appears to be a heightened sense of urgency and energy following a massively disappointing 2022 season.
