Sean McVay On Standout Rookies, Encouraging Competition & Gearing Up For The Preseason

Marco Far. I’m JB Long with the winningest coach in Rams history. Good to see you, Sean. How are you? I’m good. It’s good to see you guys. I uh you know, it’s flown by. You know, we we leave tomorrow. I I can’t believe that, but uh you know, the fans have been great. LMU’s been a great host, and I like uh I think we’ve taken steps in the right direction. We still have a long way to go, but uh I love the way this group responds. Love the way they act and interact with one another. And you know, like I told you guys in Hawaii, I I think uh you know, this is a special group. We got to come together as a team, but we’re in the midst of doing that. But, uh, I love working with these coaches and these players. It sure is fun. I was going to say, how’d the day go today? Today was good. You know, I think, uh, there was a lot of positives on both sides. You know, got some takeaways defensively, you know, made some plays offensively. Uh, but they were hard-earned. You know, I think what we talk about all the time is let’s have, you know, as competitive a football as we possibly can. Let’s not beat ourselves, but, you know, let’s have high caliber execution and if we’re going to make our plays, they’re going to be able to earn it, whether it’s the defense earning it from the offense or the offense earning it from the defense. And uh it felt like today reflected that. Davis Allen with one of the highlights. How about that catch? Was that a hell of a stab or what? While you’re here on our social platforms, make sure you find that one. That was one of the better ones. Um kind of in summation, I was thinking about competitive depth. And I’m suffering from recency bias here, I’m sure. But I think you’ve got as much competitive depth as any roster I can remember from the Rams. I think it’s a real compliment to the the group you’ve built. Yeah, I think um you know I think I I think that’s accurate and I think a lot of guys have continued to improve. I think we’ve really uh you know been pleased with a lot of the depth that the coaches have been able to develop obviously working in collaboration with our personnel and and being able to identify our kinds of guys. I think going into year nine together with less and myself um has really helped you know our group be able to you know learn from you know some successful decisions and then some ones where you say uh maybe that one didn’t work out for us but it’s always about the people these guys positively push one another and you know I think that is a good thing and uh hopefully you don’t have to you know use it too much but we know that just based on the nature of this game it’s it’s uh you know one of those things that’s most likely inevitable and the more that we can kind of be seasoned and ready for those storms and guys to be able to step up if need be, the better equipped we’ll be to handle 17 games and hopefully you’re earning the right to be able to play after that. You know, how do you feed into that competition? I mean, when you set the depth chart, how do you praise certain guys, not praise certain guys? I mean, how do you feed talking about in the preseason? In the preseason and in practice or in meetings? Well, I mean, we try to set up as much competition as possible. I mean, really, for the last, you know, since we put the pads on, it’s really been all good on good. Um, I think these guys bring out the one the best in one another. Uh, I think it forces us to be able to have a good stress. You know, we want that stress, then we want to be able to rest and recover and that’s where the real growth occurs. I think these guys are pushing themselves past those manageable expectations. Um, and I think growth demands discomfort and that’s what these guys have been able to do. Uh, but I love this depth that we that we have. Um, you know, we’re going to get an opportunity to go against Dallas. That’s going to be the majority of our starters are going to be the ones that’s almost their preseason game. And then once we actually kick off the preseason games, you’ll see a lot of these guys. But, uh, we’ll we’ll be consistent where, you know, these guys that we’re projecting as starters, they’re not going to play in the preseason. And that’s why these practices and, uh, practices against the Cowboys and Chargers are going to be key and critical for us. Growth what? Growth demands discomfort. You heard that, right? I stole it from somebody else. But hey, good quote. I like that. It’s a great quote. Yes, I got it. I’m get comfortable being uncomfortable for the boys now as they go back. See, that’s too normal. Everybody says that. Hey, you adjust. Growth demands discomfort. you say, “Oh, we just run.” Yes, that that is a good audible. You know, one area I see it is it seems like it’s going to be hard for this rookie class, at least at first, to find work on this roster. And I mean that in a very encouraging way about the top of your depth chart. You know what I would say though? What uh I was talking to Less about this the other day. It’s been good to get Pu Paul back out here. But when you look at the six draft picks that we did have, obviously Pu’s just kind of working himself back into it, but Josiah Stewart has made his presence felt. Uh Tai Hamilton is just getting better and better. Uh, you know, Canada Mumfield is just showing up. Snap in and snap out. Jarquest Hunter is going to be a hard tackle and unfortunately Ferg is growing, but he was stacking some really good days. Uh, these are guys that, you know, if they continue on this trajectory, they’ll find a way to make their presence felt on this football team. They’re going to earn everything that they get just like everybody else. But I’ve been really pleased with those guys and it’s been good to be able to get Pooh back in the mix. I’m trying to come up with a question you haven’t been asked about Matthew Stafford yet. Yeah. about your then let’s go ahead and not not ask well how do you prepare an offense when I guess your guys not there well here’s the thing when he does get back out here there’s nothing like watching number nine operate and the rapport and the communication nonverbal understanding you know I love him and I feel really fortunate that he’s leading the way I’ll tell you what else I feel fortunate is to have a guy like Jimmy Garopolo and uh watching Stson and him continue to grow Dave Veron leading the way with that room and really Matthew leading the way as well uh it’s been really fun but What’s been fortunate is when you do have a great player like Jimmy Garopppolo, you know, you’re able to try to run, you know, your offense, do some of the things that we would do with Matthew. We know how fortunate we are to have Matthew. But because of, you know, having Jimmy, you can be smart and air on the side of caution, which is the right thing to do for Matthew and for our football team, and we’ll anxiously await the opportunity for him to get back out there leading the way. Uh, but I do think that uh, you know, if you look at it as a half glass full, you say, “All right, we want him out here, but in the meantime, these guys are getting better.” And, uh, and then number nine will be ready to go and lead the way when, uh, when the time is right. Remember at the end of last season when you kind of put your closing thoughts on it and you wanted to be more resilient, more versatile. I think you’re speaking especially offensively, the personality that you brought to this season. I know there’s still a month to go, but do you feel like you’re closer to that starting line? Yeah. And but but really, you know, I know you know so well that, you know, from an offense, but really to our team, you know, how much can we be mentally and physically tough? How much can we play the game smart? And how much do we love what this competition entails in this competitive league? How much do we love leaning into the separator is going to be how we handle the storms? Um how much can we work, how much can we enjoy uh the challenges, how much can we enjoy our teammates success, have the right mindset uh and choosing that every single day and then bringing our energy with our vibe and attention. and these guys have done that. Uh, but it’s about consistently being able to stack it. Uh, and then when we do get in those moments, you know, seen is better than said. I like that a lot. It’s been really fun to watch your coaching staff. I know you’ve talked about they’ve done a great job. Just to observe you guys for two weeks and to see Mike and Chris and Chase run it. Yeah. And you to delegate it. And there’s a lot of other names. Aubrey, I could go on and on. I don’t want to go too far down that list, but it it really has been a privilege to watch and I think it means good things for your Rams this year. It’s a privilege for me to watch too. You know, I feel really fortunate to be surrounded by people uh that you can delegate and uh and you can, you know, trust that a lot of things are getting done. These guys are leading the right way. They’re connecting with the players. They’re making the appropriate corrections and there’s the the right sense of urgency but enjoyment. And, you know, striking that balance, I think, is when we’re at our best. These coaches have done an excellent job. And, uh, you know, I sure uh, you know, it’s it’s easy to be motivated when you don’t want to let people down. And these players and coaches are are studs and I I’m very fortunate to be a part of it. I’m having a blast watching your defensive front. A bunch of young dudes running around wrecking shot. If you had to compare yourself to who you would be on our defensive front, who would that be? A mix between Fisk Turner and Puna Ford. How about that? Fisk sounds like a hell of a nice pun’s height though. There we go. Yeah. Hey, you know what? I like your confidence, coach. Thank you very much. You didn’t mention that other guy who was here yesterday though, Aaron Donald. Yeah. Well, no, there was there was a a Hall of Fame DTackle here and it wasn’t me. It was It was cool seeing him. We love having Whit around. The other name I was going to mention is Brian Allen. I think a lot of people don’t know has a nice role and is contributing to your plan. Awesome. He’ll he’ll work with us. Um, you know, he’s going to be a great coach if this is the direction that he wants to go. His command as a center, uh, his no BS attitude, but his ability to be able to shoot you straight, but also have the emotional intelligence in terms of how to be able to connect. Uh, he’ll be really good. It was great having Wed out here last week. A lot of special guys that have meant a lot to me, meant a lot to us, and mean a lot to the Rams organization. Was great to have, you know, Stan and Josh out here last week as well. And so, it’s good to have Tim McVey out here the first week of practice. You know, he’ll be back out here making his appearance, roaming the sidelines. Heck yeah. Hell yeah. Yes, sir. What does Rob Havenstein call BA? Coach, you got to ask him that. Absolutely. Have a good week of uh preparation ahead. Uh Tuesday in Oxnard, Saturday at Sofi Stadium. Awesome. For Sean, for JB, thank you for being with us throughout this training camp at LMU, either in person or right here on Inside Rams Camp.

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay sits down with the Inside Rams Camp crew to discuss standout rookies making an impact at camp, encouraging friendly competition, and gearing up for the preseason.

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