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baker mayfield press conference

Written By Wednesday, May 3, 2023 Add Comment Edit

Editor's note: Over the course of three days, The Athletic spoke with multiple team and league sources with directly cognition of the internal workings of the Rams' 2023 typhoon class in order to ostend the information in this story. The Able-bodied was also present in the Rams' draft firm.

ENCINO, Calif. — Mean solar day ii of the NFL Typhoon started with whispers and rumors, equally it always does. This fourth dimension, the Rams were involved.

When Kentucky quarterback Will Levis dropped out of the offset round, pundits and football game fans speculated about a potential connexion with the Rams, because caput autobus Sean McVay recently employed Liam Coen as offensive coordinator. Coen, who is back at Kentucky, successfully ran a version of McVay's organisation with Levis in 2021.

Simply Levis was never in the Rams' plans. Internally their opinions nearly him were far from consensus. They entered the draft with the expectation to wait until Solar day 3 to selection up a quarterback who would back upwards Matthew Stafford. As they reset their typhoon board alee of Fri's second and tertiary rounds, general manager Les Snead wrote their coaching and scouting consensus No. 1 actor for Day two on a sheet of lined paper, and passed it around: TCU guard Steve Avila.

Snead, who loves to play the adversary, afterward openly smirked about the quarterback rumors in his post-draft printing conference. He also had a U-T Chattanooga sweatshirt draped over the back of his chair in the state of war room upstairs, a wink at a mischaracterized viral moment from the 2022 first circular when Snead and McVay tipsily cackled about the Patriots selection of offensive lineman Cole Foreign — laughing at themselves for doing then much work on a player xc picks out of their accomplish.

This year, their offset selection was at No. 36. And instead of spending their pick-less first round, ah, "bonding" with their staff, McVay and Snead stayed in the Rams' war room on the 2d level of their ten,000-square-pes draft house in the San Fernando Valley.

They were discussing a possible trade into the first round, and needed to remain upstairs — surrounded by analysts, other executives, their coordinators Mike LaFleur and Raheem Morris and their senior draft consultants, as well equally several digital screens feeding them information on official picks and trades being filed over to the league every bit much as xv minutes earlier the television broadcast displayed them.

Thursday night, the Rams debated nigh v players — all offense — who either were falling, or could fall, far plenty in the first circular to merit a trade upwards. They "knocked on some doors," Snead afterwards said, to ask about costs. Suddenly, the Giants made their move into pick No. 24 (the TV broadcast was merely on option No. 21 or 22 at that point) and the Jaguars flipped their new No. 25 to Buffalo. Soon afterwards, the grouping upstairs got its intel on how the rest of the beginning round would likely milkshake out and some started to make their style downstairs (the broadcast even so but showing picks 23-24 by now).

By Friday afternoon, with Avila locked in every bit their tiptop target at No. 36 and league-wide smokescreens circulating, some on staff were getting nervous. A couple of assistant coaches, including new offensive line omnibus Ryan Wendell, started a game of numberless in the lawn to try to settle down. Wendell hovered near the staircase as the 2nd round began, in instance the Rams were in achieve of their guy. If he savage to them, Wendell would exist called upstairs past McVay's correct-hand assistant, Carter Crutchfield, to become on the phone and assist telephone call in the pick (the Rams do this with all of their position coaches).

A mini-run on the top 2 remaining tight ends started right ahead of the Rams — the Lions took Sam LaPorta, so the Raiders traded up for Michael Mayer (perhaps assertive the Rams would take him). Tight stop was a need for the Rams, who thought very highly of several prospects in the class — but regarded no 24-hour interval two player higher than Avila. They had a clear rail to file Avila over to the league office every bit their choice at No. 36, among raucous applause and hollering.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Rams depth chart postal service-typhoon: Steve Avila immediately starts, questions in secondary

Wendell came back downstairs, took a breather, and then went outside and sank the game-winner in numberless.

Avila will likely immediately start for the Rams at either guard or center. He has excelled at both: a team captain who started for TCU at center before a transfer player/coaching change sent him to baby-sit, where he didn't allow a single sack in 2022 and became a consensus All-American.

"(He is a) tough guy, I hateful a large human existence who moves very well for that size. A guy that is in the business of moving people," said expanse scout Cedric Jones, who was the lead on Avila. He joked that watching Avila even got "boring" considering he was just so consequent snap after snap.

At No. 36, and subsequently in the second round — all picks within the summit 100, after trades from No. 69 to No. 73, then No. 73 to No. 89 left them with Nos. 77 and 89 — the Rams wanted players who could physically get on the field as early as possible. Simply also of import were these specific players' acumen for the sport and their leadership qualities. Because the Rams volition be so young at and then many positions, this draft was non simply about filling holes — it was also most resetting a cultural foundation after a baleful 2022. That only made Avila a more coveted player.

"He has a great personality, he can relate to a lot of different people," Jones said. "You tin put that guy in, he's gonna come and practise his chore. Nosotros're pretty confident in that."

The Rams said that Steve Avila, their pick at No. 36, "is in the business organization of moving people." (Robert Hanashiro / United states Today)

At No. 73, the Rams took Tennessee border Byron Young. He went from no-star recruit who didn't accept the grades to attend a Division I school, to postgraduate schoolhouse to get his grades together, to banana managing director at Dollar General where he saw a flier for tryouts at Georgia Armed forces College in the spring of 2019. From at that place, Immature (who also lost the 2020 flavor because of the pandemic), got his tape out to inferior colleges and somewhen signed with Tennessee. Area scout Billy Johnson latched onto Young around that time, but Immature required some digging past but his short stint there. Senior personnel executive Brian Xanders went back over all of Young's scraps of tape to go a better feel for the pressures and quarterback hits he amassed at his various stops.

The Rams lack any sort of presence off the edge, and Immature's iv.43 40-chiliad dash speed was his most attractive athletic quality especially because their pass rush was frequently neutralized past opponents' quick game in 2022. But Young's run defense is still a big work in progress — and something he said new outside linebackers motorbus Joe Coniglio spoke about in-depth with him when they had a Zoom phone call in the weeks before the draft. The Rams still lack a player who tin definitively play every down at outside linebacker.

At pick No. 89, the Rams drew another rare consensus between scouts and coaches when they selected Wake Wood defensive tackle Kobie Turner.

Turner is undersized (half-dozen-human foot-2 and 293 pounds), but built like a barrel full of rocks. He's also vivid and self-aware, noting Fri night that he particularly studied Rams star Aaron Donald'due south tape from years ago to see how he developed his hands and technique. "Especially a few years back, knowing that I was a little undersized by other people'south terms, I learned merely how good his mitt placement is (and) how everything works in sync," he said.

Turner was compared to onetime Rams defensive tackle Greg Gaines, another undersized difference-maker, during his evaluation process. Gaines signed with Tampa Bay this spring. Like Gaines, Turner possesses an understanding of how all of the pieces of a pass rush interconnect and that is important when working in tandem with Donald, who can freestyle where he sees an advantage. In college, Turner created enough havoc along the interior defensive line to make quarterbacks hesitate (some other trait identified for setting up Donald).

"He's simply 1 of those guys that when you watch him play, there's no play off," Snead said.

With their start iii picks Friday dark, it felt equally though the Rams selected players who (in theory) would immediately help at to the lowest degree two in their crumbling three-man star core: Stafford and Donald.

Day three of the typhoon started at 7 a.m. with ii fresh pots of coffee, which awaited coaches and scouts on the countertop in the open up-concept kitchen. Coniglio, among the first wave of coaches who helped drain a pot, started a third as the residue of the firm started to make full with hurry and noise. Afterward their two Twenty-four hour period ii trades, the Rams finally held a 4th-rounder (they chosen their sometime famine of picks in that round "the black hole"), No. 128.

Curiously at the fourth dimension, sometime NFL quarterback Kellen Clemens paced, expressionless, through the house. He spoke to no ane. In hindsight, his presence was a huge giveaway that the Rams were targeting a backup quarterback on Twenty-four hours three. Internally, they had all agreed that they'd take a quarterback Saturday if one they liked got to one of their picks. Clemens was a consultant hired by the Rams in Jan to help them evaluate a giant class of quarterbacks, and they never appear it publicly like they had their other hires in lodge to hide their hand for the draft.

As the staff filed one by ane upwardly the stairs and into the war room in the minutes before the fourth round began, they chatted quietly to one some other about how they felt the board alee of their pick would fall. Former Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett was at the top of Snead's listing. The offensive staff liked him. The defensive staff especially liked him — whoever the Rams brought in as backup to Stafford would as well run a live scout team against the first-squad defence force. That role player would have to be capable of developing equally a quarterback while at the same fourth dimension being enough of a competitor to challenge and thus aid develop a very immature defense.

The Rams likewise felt that a few teams around the league were pretending they weren't as high on Bennett every bit they actually were. One person involved in Bennett's evaluation process said he had a pit in his stomach that forenoon, worrying they wouldn't get him.

So they gave Bennett the "no-hitter" treatment, to not jinx annihilation. They didn't say his name or talk about him. They weren't really in communication with him tardily in the typhoon process (to the point where he bought several different team hats pre-draft to ensure he had the correct i on for his introductory Zoom printing conference, not knowing who would pick him).

Clemens had gone to Athens, Ga., and put Bennett through a series of mental evaluations including whiteboard work and in-game decision-making exercises. Clemens, silent all forenoon, was a totally different person afterward the pick was filed and fifty-fifty did a miniature press conference with reporters in the garage alongside director of typhoon management J.Westward. Jordan.

Jordan said that even with all the talent around Bennett on Georgia's title-winning rosters, he isn't only a quarterback who stands and hands off the ball.

"That'south what you recollect going in," Jordan said. "So in a way, it's like yous've got to overcome that bias. Only when you start watching him, you're like, 'Oh. This guy is more than than just a cog in the wheel. He's driving the bus — for ameliorate or worse, even so good or bad he is, he'south driving the bus."

Bennett is merely v-foot-11, but that was less of a business organization for Rams evaluators. They were more than so fatigued to the quality Jordan described. In 2022, they collectively finally understood the divergence between "worst-case scenarios" for their criminal offense: At that place is the state of affairs in which the starting quarterback goes downwardly and there is picayune chance the fill-in tin can come up in and give the team a chance to win, and there is the situation in which the starter goes downwardly and the team knowsit has a shot to win. Like waiver wire acquisition Baker Mayfield, the quaternary quarterback who started for the Rams in 2022, they believe Bennett is the latter.

Well-nigh that alive scout squad, and competing in practice …

The Rams drafted a teammate of Bennett's, offensive tackle Warren McClendon Jr., at No. 174 on Sat. McClendon (who currently can plug in as a "swing" player capable of bankroll up multiple positions along the line) described a Georgia football tradition chosen "bloody Tuesdays."

"(It) was our most physical practice," McClendon said. "Having that competition and coming into do and practicing hard, I think we'll both have success there."

Pick No. 161, OLB Nick Hampton

Everything started moving veryfast effectually this point. The Rams made 3 more trades (five full in the entire draft) to maneuver effectually the lath.

Hampton, a standout laissez passer rusher at Appalachian Country, got the call surrounded by his parents and ii brothers. He answered on the first ring.

"I fit their defense because information technology'southward similar to what nosotros did at App State," Hampton said of the Rams. "I'one thousand a relentless pass rusher. Always giving try. I'm going to get to the quarterback and get the brawl out."

Hampton, a strong and physical presence on the edge, was No. 84 on Bruce Feldman's "Freaks listing" for standout athleticism and one of seven players the Rams took a closer expect at via Senior Bowl tape.

Pick No. 175, TE Davis Allen

New tight ends coach Nick Caley liked Allen, as long as he was a Day 3 pick. Allen is still growing into his skill ready as a pass catcher and blocker, but has an intriguing foundation in both phases.

"Dream come true," said Allen, before spending the next few minutes of the telephone call (somewhat endearingly) talking about all of the things he needs to amend.

"There's a lot of room for comeback for me, I think at that place always will exist," he said. "But I exercise remember I can practise a piffling bit of both."

Pick No. 177, WR Puka Nacua

Nacua's skill set is very familiar to Rams fans: He's a physical yards-after-take hold of histrion with a real savviness for how the game works and the layers within an criminal offence.

His injury history is a concern and did contribute to his pick betoken. He and Rams star receiver Cooper Kupp share a former receivers coach in common, Inferior Adams (now at Oregon).

"Love Puka," Adams said in a text message. "Growth mindset. Ever trying to get better. Ultra-competitive with the brawl in the air and loves doing the dirty work in the run game."

Pick No. 182, CB Tre Hodges-Tomlinson

Hodges-Tomlinson, the nephew of Hall of Fame running back LaDanian Tomlinson and last year's Jim Thorpe Accolade winner, is nether the Rams' usual pinnacle profile at cornerback (he'southward 5-pes-8). Merely he also has outstanding ball skills and athleticism, is twitchy, tenacious and smart — characteristics the Rams need in their secondary in order to get back to a stickier, more than ambitious match zone.

Tomlinson definitely,definitelyhas a chip on his shoulder because of how tardily he was selected in the draft. He knows it was because of his peak.

"People degrade me, even though I've done equally much every bit I've done in this game of football game and continued to testify (them) wrong," he said. "You know, it seems to still become over others heads. The Rams, you lot know, they believed in me. They chose to make the selection. So I'1000 gonna make sure that this option right hither is gonna be one of the greatest picks they've ever had. I'm ready to go to work, and I'yard gonna go on to show others why they shouldn't take passed up on me."

Pick No. 189, OLB Ochaun Mathis

Mathis was a belatedly-round favorite of Morris. He was very impressive at TCU in 34 starts (32 tackles for loss in those games), but didn't play much after transferring to Nebraska ahead of the 2022 season.

"Mathis has impressive concrete traits with his size measurables and athletic tools, but his play strength and pass-rush instincts are underdeveloped," The Athletic's lead draft analyst Dane Brugler said. "His raw talent is ameliorate than his tape, making him a potential draft-and-develop rusher for an NFL team."

Pick No. 215, RB Zach Evans

For the second twelvemonth in a row, the Rams traded up for a running back. Evans was projected to be selected on Day two of the draft, but fell in role considering of some past injuries and also for what Brugler called "baggage," referring to Evans as a "boom or bust" prospect, "but at that place is no denying his flare-up and residue to create explosive plays in different means."

Pick No. 223, P Ethan Evans

Tardily Saturday afternoon, special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn and assistant Jeremy Springer hunched in 1 corner of the business firm's first floor, cheeks flushed, surrounded by screens and papers. The coaches and the scouts knew that the top kicker and punter in this year's draft class would likely be selected with higher picks than they would be allotted for the position group. Only the Rams entered the draft with zerospecialists on their roster, then they had to have a strategy to fill every spot.

If the pinnacle kicker(south) were picked earlier the Rams, they would typhooneithera punterora long-snapper, the latter with the latest picks if information technology came to that and the former merely if the right punter savage to the right option in the 7th round. Then, they would go all-in recruiting multiple kickers to their undrafted free agent course, and whichever third specialist position they didn't draft.

Both special teams coaches had been on the road visiting prospects all jump. Blackburn attended the Wingate pro mean solar day (a private Partition II higher in Northward Carolina with a student population of about 2,500) this spring, and took Evans out to dinner — a dainty identify, added Evans, noting he's from a small mountain town and that Blackburn "could've taken me to McDonald's, I wouldn't care."

The two had a good connection. Evans, just 21 years old, has an impressive leg and finesse even though he's yet growing. Blackburn liked that Evans knew a little Rams history: former special teams greats Johnny Hekker and Greg Zeurlein came into the 2012 class together, and built something impressive from the ground up. As the seventh round began and he headed upstairs, Blackburn was practically vibrating from excitement — they believed Evans would fall to them at pick No. 223, and Blackburn would become to make the phone call for the first fourth dimension in his career.

The word Snead used to describe Blackburn throughout the pre-draft process (it'due south not a existent word, but typically Snead): "Thorough-cus. … Thorough plus focused."

(Jourdan Rodrigue / The Athletic)

Pick No. 234, South Jason Taylor

Taylor, an Oklahoma State standout who was projected to be drafted in the late fourth or early fifth round, instead watched with his family as selection later option came off the lath. He sank deeper into sadness and frustration as fourth dimension passed, and finally walked into the backyard with his mom then that the two could discuss his options as an undrafted gratis agent.

Then, the Rams called. Taylor's mom got to listen in as Snead told him they were drafting him, then they both hurried inside to inform the residuum of the family unit.

"This is all and then quick, you know? I just got drafted!" Taylor said over the phone, emotional and fighting to continue his voice even. "I'm here talking now, and I'm merely full of happiness and gratefulness."

Taylor's voice finally croaky every bit his tears began to period. "I recall only existence with my family, um, I think this is the most special moment. All of this, we went through this process together just to get to this signal and the fact that I got a lot of my family here, enjoying each other and having a good time … that's what makes this special."

His journeying from the draft into his NFL career, if he can stay on course, draws parallels to other Rams safeties who have worked their manner upwards from humble rookie ancestry: Nick Scott and Jordan Fuller.

Pick No. 259, DL Desjuan Johnson

This year (via merchandise) the Rams held the final selection in the draft — a fleck tiresomely named "Mr. Irrelevant". Johnson was a tackle-for-loss machine in higher, albeit at the MAC level, and (on theme for this Rams draft class), a trivial undersized at his position. He'll become a chance to compete for a depth role, though, because their roster is so thin on defense.

"I didn't know information technology was the final pick, or 'Mr. Irrelevant', until we made the trade," quipped Snead.

The Rams drafted 11 players Saturday, and so agreed to terms with 24 undrafted free agents (they hit 25 by Monday night). Their roster overall faces a steep uphill climb this season. That is next week's problem. Equally the sun started setting over the San Fernando Valley, a few scouts cracked beers (and difficult seltzers, no judgment) and turned their attention to one terminal game of numberless.

(Top photo: left to right: Joe Coniglio, Mike LaFleur, Zac Robinson, Sean McVay, Raheem Morris, Les Snead and Jake Temme at the Rams typhoon firm: Los Angeles Rams)

Source: https://theathletic.com/4478881/2023/05/03/rams-nfl-draft-inside/

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