On the other hand: Adams brings to the Rams receiver room a perspective that Kupp did not. Kupp\u2019s eight strong NFL seasons all came with the Rams (until the Seahawks signed him this spring) and all came under McVay\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n
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Adams arrives with a pro r\u00e9sum\u00e9 spanning a range of play-callers across eight Green Bay Packers seasons, two-plus years with the Las Vegas Raiders and the better part of last season with the New York Jets.<\/p>\n
Rams leadership liked the idea of bringing those perspectives into their building.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people in our ecosystem have been here, so I always think it\u2019s beneficial when someone comes,\u201d general manager Les Snead told Yahoo Sports. \u201cMy abstract artist mind [thinks] it\u2019s probably some version of organic diversification coming into the room that you get someone who\u2019s been other places, seen other things things, done it in different ways \u2014 but they\u2019re still at the top of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, left, talks with wide receiver Davante Adams during a training camp scrimmage against the Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday in Oxnard, California. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)<\/p>\n
Adams arrives coming off his sixth career season over 1,000 yards, surpassing the mark in 2024 despite an in-season trade from the Raiders to the Jets.<\/p>\n
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In 11 years, Adams has caught 957 passes for 11,844 yards and 103 touchdowns. He\u2019s averaged 1,228 yards and 11 touchdowns per 17-game season (he entered the league before it bumped to 17 from 16) and twice led the league in receiving touchdowns.<\/p>\n
Nacua watches wide-eyed as Adams shows him new nuances to routes and how to better capitalize on his leverage.<\/p>\n
Adams and Nacua both pride themselves on running across the middle of the field fearlessly, but Nacua said Adams has reminded him that just because he can take contact doesn\u2019t mean he needs to or even necessarily should.<\/p>\n
Adams has shown him different route stems to elevate his game.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI always take the contact and say that I’m bigger than somebody,\u201d Nacua said. \u201cWe get to the break point, I’ll shrug you off and be able to run and get the ball. But it definitely does save some shoulder pain when you can win from negative leverage and not run into people all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nacua is considering whether his defender is playing with a high shoulder or low, and what that depth means for the receiver\u2019s best angle.<\/p>\n
Adams\u2019 red-zone releases have left Nacua saying: \u201cHoly cow, that\u2019s teach tape right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow he tries to marry up his slant with the fade,\u201d Nacua said. \u201cWe don’t run a ton of stuff outside the numbers because of how condensed our offense is, but trying to figure out, on my slant release [how] he’s heading up to inside leverage and to threaten outside. I would take the slant as kind of a speed release for the fade ball and then being able to work kind of a false acceleration into the slant.<\/p>\n
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\u201cUsing that for both reps and trying to win and make them marry up.\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, that Rams work has come with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo as Stafford rehabilitates an aggravated disc in his back.<\/p>\n
McVay echoed multiple Rams sources Thursday in saying that Stafford would have played in recent weeks if it were the regular season even as he remains sidelined in training camp.<\/p>\n
Stafford missed the Rams\u2019 joint practice this week with the Cowboys and will not participate in the Rams-Chargers joint practice next week.<\/p>\n
But if a Saturday workout goes well, McVay said, Stafford will return to Rams-only practice Monday.<\/p>\n
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Nacua said he\u2019s \u201cvery confident\u201d in Stafford\u2019s ability to reintegrate quickly, the quarterback continuing to discuss offensive tweaks with his receivers while unable to practice. Stafford\u2019s watching Adams \u201cadding tools to everybody\u2019s skill set,\u201d Nacua said, and assessing what each means for their ability to fight through contact, keep running and get in and out of breaks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s a mastery that he has of the football field and especially of our offense,\u201d Nacua said of Stafford. \u201cHis standard for himself always makes it super easy to be out here because he wants to put it on the right shoulder, the front palm, on every cut. Every route he knows exactly where is the best spot to put the ball against, whether it’s based on the defense or how one receiver might catch it differently from another.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stafford\u2019s mastery helped Nacua to 2,476 yards and nine touchdowns in two regular seasons despite missing six games last year. Adding Adams to the mix after Kupp, Nacua thinks, will only unlock another level of potential.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve learned, I feel like, at an accelerated rate because of them,\u201d Nacua said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 Puka Nacua was at his Los Angeles Rams teammate\u2019s wedding when he got the call.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[1081,257,5430,7,7841,3418,393,1014,58,2444,2611,32,1075,255,6,1088,424,238,3307],"class_list":{"0":"post-271591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-cooper-kupp","9":"tag-dallas-cowboys","10":"tag-davante-adams","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-jimmy-garoppolo","13":"tag-kobie-turner","14":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-los-angeles-rams","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-losangelesrams","19":"tag-matthew-stafford","20":"tag-nacua","21":"tag-new-york-jets","22":"tag-nfl","23":"tag-puka-nacua","24":"tag-rams","25":"tag-seahawks","26":"tag-sean-mcvay"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114993113673540581","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}