Why do the Rams conduct joint practices?

One of the frequently asked questions following any Rams joint practice with another team eventually becomes: Why do the Rams do it? The simplest answer is perhaps the most accurate. The benefits of doing so make it very advantageous to do so. After all, without joint practices, an NFL team simply pits the same handful of guys against the same handful of guys. Not only does the familiarity of playing against the same players dilute the impact of practices, but the sheer motivation lessens as players attune to the plays and the quirks inherent with each NFL player.

Either players get bored, one player overwhelmingly dominates the other, or the two opposing players become so effective at competing against one another that the reference point of how well the overall team is prepared begins to fade.

And then there is the fact that the team is limited in the variety of coaches, plays, and looks that they use in their own playbook.

A great way to beat boredom and the doldrums is to mix it up, add variety to the player’s experience, and raise the bar of competition. For the LA Rams, what better way to infuse an entirely fresh look into the NFL than to compete against newly hired Los Angeles Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh. Not only is Harbaugh the former head coach of the Michigan Wolverines, but he was also the former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

And the Chargers, under Coach Harbaugh, have as much to benefit by competing against the Rams as the Rams have by competing against the Chargers.

Joint practices are the NFL’s version of the Autobahn in Germany. There are no speed limits. In fact, joint practices are penalty-free in terms of the performances and results of plays. Scores do not count. Coaches can dabble with as many experimental or basic vanilla plays as the mood strikes them.

Almost all NFL coaches save the best wrinkles and innovations for the regular season. But keep in mind that the team is not only trying to prepare players for the upcoming season, but trying to evaluate which 53 players will accompany the team in that journey. So comparative plays that allow for objective assessment take precedence.

Okay, in my last article, I promised not to end today’s articles on a downbeat. So were there any positives to discuss from the joint practices held with the Los Angeles Chargers? Yes, yes yes. So let’s dive right into the positives:

Rams backup OL faced Chargers quality pass rushers

While the results were not stellar, the Rams pitted backup offensive linemen against the Los Angeles Chargers starting pass rushers, and initial reports suggest that the Chargers emerged as the victors of those line of scrimmage skirmishes. But this is not the regular season, and this was never going to be the Rams best showing.

OC Register’s Elliott Teaford reported that the Chargers pass rush put up three quarterback sacks when both Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack were on the football field together. So what is the good news about that? Well, knowing that the Rams were playing backups against the Chargers starters, the entire experience was certainly a master’s level course for the team’s offensive tackles.

That means that offensive tackles Joe Noteboom and Warren McClendon had their hands full.

But allowing a few quarterback sacks to two of the NFL’s best pass rushers is not what I would call a failing grade. Nor would Coach McVay, who had this to say after the joint practice session concluded about his right tackle, Warren McClendon:

“But anytime you go against premier players like that, and then Bud Dupree and Tuli are also rotating on their edges, they got four guys that are legit players. So I think that is excellent. You know, I think Warren (McClendon) is continuing to mature, but I will go back and look at it. But there were some good things, and then there’ll be some things that when I’m just isolating on him when you have a chance to slow it down – my eyes are sometimes in some different place.”

– Coach Sean Mcvay

This is all about learning, improving, and developing. For the Rams, they have installed Joe Noteboom at left tackle, Warren McClendon at right tackle, and Zach Thomas at left guard. The Rams often pit their starters against their opponents starters in joint practices. Unfortunately, the team’s injuries to three starters has joint practices resembling preseason games.

Tight ends continue to put up impressive tape

While there continues to be heated competition for the team’s starting tight end spot in the absence of Tyler Higbee, it does seem to be shaking out as a two-player race between free agent veteran tight end Colby Parkinson and second-year wunderkind tight end Davis Allen. Both had newsworthy plays in the joint practice session with the Chargers.

For the 6-foot-6 251-pound Davis Allen, he put up a spectacular catch in the redzone. It was a thread-the-needle pass from starting quarterback Matthew Stafford to Allen, who made the reception in traffic. Allen was immediately brought down by multiple Chargers defensive backs, but held on for the completion.

6-foot-7 267-pound Colby Parkinson matched that with a highlight play of his own. He made a thrilling one-handed reception down the sideline for a completion. While that play is sensational on its own merits, Parkinson is a huge-bodied tight end who is renowned for his blocking ability. So have the Rams unlocked an upgrade for the towering tight end?

With no news from the joint practice session about TE Hunter Long, it appears that the two front-runners for a significant role in 2024 appear to be Davis Allen and Colby Parkinson. We will likely be able to confirm those suspicions based on which tight ends compete and which do not compete in Game 1 of the preseason.

Rookie RB Blake Corum has afterburners

The LA Rams may not have dominated at their first joint practice session, scheduled against the Los Angeles Chargers, but this was never about dominating. So what was this about? For openers, there is the primary objective of learning, and getting great looks of new stunts, elite players, and a host of never-seen-that before.

One of the variables that is not addressed from the play-calling standpoint. It was clear that the Los Angeles Chargers defense was all about pinning their ears back, sending their edge rushers, and trying to tackle the quarterbacks at every opportunity. Since this was a joint practice, the Rams offense was content to go with a vanilla-look offense to test the pass-blocking prowess of their inexperienced (well, somewhat inexperienced) offensive tackles.

The Rams had plenty of running plays in the playbook to counter the pass-rush-happy Chargers edge rushers. While the team did not dial up a rush-heavy offense, a strategy that would have slowed down the pass rushers, the team did dial in some running plays. When that happened, rookie running back Blake Corum kicked in the afterburners and reminded his former Michigan head coach why he was the bread-and-butter running back in the Wolverines’ offense:

Corum did fumble a screen pass in his first joint practice session facing a new NFL opponent. But he did manage to put up some very impressive runs for big gains. He is more than an elusive runner or a downhill runner. He can run between the tackles with authority, while also breaking it outside and churning out huge gains.

RB Kyren Williams may start the season as the featured running back. But for the life of me, I cannot see Corum settling for a change of pace role in this offense. He is that good, folks.

Kamren Kinchens is having a spectacular training camp

I love the Rams addition of rookie defensive back Kamren Kinchens for a host of reasons. But what I love most about him is the dash of spice that he adds to this secondary. He is the equivalent to a tablespoon of chile powder to a batch of chile served up piping hot on a cold day.

He sends a warm feeling throughout the fanbase about this Rams secondary.

Kinchens may be new to the NFL, but he is a tried and true cutpurse, a savante of skullduggery, the tyrant of takeaways. And while the 5-foot-11 207-pound rookie defensive back out of the University of Miami has been slowly acclimating to life in the NFL. And it seems that he has finally turned the corner as apprentice to fully signed off operator in the Rams secondary.

Kamren Kinchens closed out training camp by picking off a pass in each of the final two training camp practice sessions. While that is certainly encouraging, he added a spectacular pass break up on a deep sideline pass from Chargers quarterback Easton Stick. While starting QB Justin Herbert recovers from a foot injury, the Bolt’s offense is in the hands of Stick. Stick, in turn, was denied a deep strike by the Rams surging rookie safety.

The secondary has plenty of talented options for the safety position. There is veteran John Johnson III, newly signed safety free agent Kamren Curl, Rush Yeast, and of course the steller-playing DB Quentin Lake, who has been taking on a kaleidoscope of secondary roles so far. But rookie Kamren Kinchens is getting good quickly, and he has been one of the names that we continue to read good things about on a daily basis. The joint practice session with the Chargers is just one more positively trending data point.

But what of the other Kamren in this Rams secondary?

Kamren Curl is better than advertised

It seems as though every time we appear to get our arms around newly signed free agent defensive back Kamren Curl, he puts up another impressive performance that causes us to raise the bar one more time. That skyrocketing trend of his performance continues with the joint practice session with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Kamren Curl is someone to watch. At 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, he is big enough to play linebacker, adept at pass coverage to play cornerback. versatile enough at both run and pass support to play safety, and has that Super-Saiyan feel that former Defensive Coordinator Raheem Morris sought so adamantly to put in the back of his defense.

He is an enforcer. A player whose tackles will linger in the memory of any and every ball carrier that he brings down. He loves to tackle. And better still, he is so good at it that he will bring cheers from the fans. But if he was signed to the team to be a hard-hitting tackler who can line up in the box to stuff the run, then the front office must have added the optional upgrades as well.

Curl has been dominant in pass coverage. From sideline to sideline, from the line of scrimmage to deep in center field, wherever the football flies, there is Kamren Curl tracking its arc to either deny the reception or to claim the football for his own. He added another interception in the joint practice session against the Los Angeles Chargers, a deep pass thrown by QB Easton Stick.

Kamren Curl is better than advertised.

Rams receivers are going to impress

While the team’s aerial assault against the Chargers defense sputtered at time, this was not a sky-is-falling session as you may be led to believe by other reports I have read about the offensive performance. Yes, the Rams did suffer frequent tipped balls, and that did lead to a couple of turnovers. But as you can see above, the joint-practice session had turnovers on both sides.

Before he was injured, Puka Nacua caught a thread-the-needle pass over the middle from QB Matthew Stafford. That was an impressive play, drawing plenty of positives from spectators. But Nacua did suffer an injury. So what happened?

The Rams were not hapless on offense. As stated earlier, the team did get some impressive runs out of rookie RB Blake Corum. And the tight ends, expected to be very proficient in blocking, showcased their ability to make difficult catches.

But what about the offense overall? Yes, the team did settle into a groove after a rather shaky start.

Veteran WR Demarcus Robinson, quietly having a dandy training camp, put an exclamation point to his offseason work by making a one-handed reception down the sidelines against the Chargers. The Rams offense, despite a shaky period in their first joint practice session, is loaded with receiver talent and will be very difficult to contain, even by the most talented defenses.

While this was not a perfectly executed joint-practice session, there are enough positives to build on. And there are some very valuable lessons learned about Rams players, both in what they are capable of doing on the football field, and in areas that need more work and refinement.

This is a journey, not a stop. Stay tuned, because the Rams are only going to get better from here.

Thanks for reading.