LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sunday’s opening training camp practice for the Los Angeles Rams marked the first time the team’s full defense took the field with Myles Garrett rushing off the edge — and by all accounts, it did not disappoint.
Players and coaches alike came away energized by what they witnessed and what it could mean for the Rams heading into this season.
“We’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time, and it definitely lived up to it,” defensive coordinator Chris Shula said.
Garrett is still getting acclimated to his new surroundings, having arrived via a high-profile trade from the Browns less than two months ago. Even with the team working in shorts without pads at less than full intensity, Garrett’s impact was impossible to ignore — whether he was bursting into the backfield for a simulated sack or athletically leaping to knock down a screen pass.
Even the highest-paid cornerback in the league couldn’t help but take notice.
“When he’s out there, you can just feel his aura,” said Trent McDuffie. “(It’s just) this aura that this guy has. I mean, he’s gigantic. He’s a monster. But I’m just excited to get him out here and get him loose and get him going, because I know he has a little chip on his shoulder, and I know he’s excited about being here, so I think that just fires everybody else up.”
Coming off a 12-win season that ended with an NFC championship game appearance, Los Angeles brought in Garrett, McDuffie, and cornerback Jaylen Watson to shore up a defense that performed well early last year before fading late in the season and ultimately falling short against the NFL’s top-ranked offense.
With three proven veterans now in the starting mix, the Rams are confident their overhauled defense can help the team live up to its preseason billing as a legitimate Super Bowl contender. The organization gave up considerable assets and committed major money to all three additions, but players and coaches view general manager Les Snead’s bold moves as nothing but upside.
“Honestly, I don’t know if many guys feel the expectation that everybody claims that we have,” McDuffie said. “For us, we’re here to play football, to enjoy the locker room, just to get to know each other. I feel like all the expectation, all that, we leave to you guys hyping us up. Whoever is on this field, whoever is on the team, whoever is in the locker room, I feel like we do a good job just enjoying each other’s presence and living in the moment.”
Watson echoed that mindset. “Expectations are all the same,” he said. “All 32 teams have the same goal right now, and that’s to hold the Lombardi up at the end of the year.”
Despite arriving with two Super Bowl rings earned together in Kansas City, both McDuffie and Watson said they have no intention of trying to reshape the Rams’ defensive identity. They believe their new organization already has a winning culture in place under coach Sean McVay, and their goal is simply to build on it.
“The way we’re looking at it, it’s their team, and we’ve just got to learn the way they do things,” Watson said. “We can tell them things we did to be successful, get integrated, and hope it works out.”
In other notes from camp: NFL MVP Matthew Stafford sat out Sunday’s opening practice as part of the team’s plan to manage his workload through the preseason. Coach McVay confirmed Stafford is fully healthy this summer, a contrast to last year when a back injury sidelined him for several weeks at the start of camp. Stafford is expected to return to the field Monday. Meanwhile, rookie quarterback Ty Simpson and backup Stetson Bennett appeared to share snaps during the team’s 11-on-11 drills on the first day of camp.
