{"id":54198,"date":"2016-08-01T16:14:17","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T23:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=54198"},"modified":"2016-08-03T08:56:07","modified_gmt":"2016-08-03T15:56:07","slug":"rams-training-camp-notes-08012016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=54198","title":{"rendered":"Rams Training Camp Notes: 08\/01\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rams\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rams Special Teams Coordinator Coach John Fassel \u2013 Post-Special Teams Practice \u2013 August 1, 2016<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

(Opening Remarks)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHey everybody. Hell of a workout. I just want to start by saying that this is a tradition that (Head) Coach (Jeff Fisher) \u2018Fish\u2019 started, and now our fifth year we kicked off training camp in full pads with special teams practice. We\u2019ve had success over the past couple years finding undrafted rookie free agents in these types of practices. It\u2019s just a chance for us to see guys compete, use the techniques that we\u2019ve practiced in OTAs, which we felt we finished on a really high note. But, to put the pads on is a different ball game. So, to see that today, I think we got through pretty clean; the soft tissues and all of that, and guys competed. We\u2019ll check the film out and probably will find a couple hidden gems, like we\u2019ve been able to do the last couple years. It\u2019s a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(On if any players stood out in particular while watching film of special teams drills)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA couple linebackers always seem to, kind of, stand out. Guys that are late round draft picks or undrafted guys that are real scrappy and hungry. We\u2019ve had some success with some running backs being, kind of like bonus guys on teams. Probably unfair to say right now until I see the film, but there\u2019s always a couple guys that we don\u2019t really know much about, other than a little bit of college. But the thing is, in college there\u2019s not a lot of special teams film on a lot of these guys, because they don\u2019t play special teams. To see them in a full-speed, lots of space environment is new for them, and that\u2019s when you get exposed in a good or bad way.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(On the type of quality he expects to see from the players in special teams drills)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking for guys that can run. I love to see guys that use the techniques we\u2019ve been working on all of OTAs, which have been unpadded in the last two days.\u00a0 And that\u2019s all we\u2019ve done, is that we\u2019ve worked on the techniques that hopefully help them out today. Who\u2019s doing the right thing, who\u2019s fighting and scrapping, and who shows that they can run, and who\u2019s also being smart about not committing penalties, and those types of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(On the types of special teams players he has found in the past)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c(RB) Benny Cunningham, (RB) Chase Reynolds, (TE) Cory Harkey, (S) Cody Davis, (LB) Daren Bates, who went to Oakland this year, (CB) Marcus Roberson, (S) Maurice Alexander. Last year, (LB) Cam Lynch, undrafted, (WR) Bradley Marquez, undrafted, (LB) Bryce Hager, seventh-round. Those are the guys that have stood out and have made the team, and then performed well enough in games to stick. So, I probably left a few guys out. But, it\u2019s usually the guys you don\u2019t know much about. Not the first and the second or third-round draft picks. So, you know, tough dudes.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(On thoughts about WR Duke Williams and TE Tyler Higbee)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, pretty good. You know, great size. Again, a couple guys that haven\u2019t performed on teams in college. So, it\u2019s great to see them do something that\u2019s new for them and unique kind of to the sport. So, they\u2019re looking pretty sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(On if the decision of cutting a player is determined by their performance on special teams)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, the thing with Coach Fisher is that there\u2019s a priority, maybe the last couple choices, on completing that roster. If it\u2019s a toss-up at a certain position, offensive or defensively, then the trump card is special teams. We\u2019ve been fortunate the last couple of years that Coach Fisher recognizes that and picks the guy out that looks like he might have some potential to play 25 snaps a game on special teams. I think, you know, three, four, five guys a year find that role, and then perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(On the stance of special teams regarding strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvement)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI think, you know, our punting, kicking, snapping game is excellent. Benny and (WR) Tavon (Austin) I think have been really successful the last couple of years returning kicks. We\u2019ve got tough guys that can run and cover. We need to cut out some penalties in our return game. That\u2019s probably kept us from being one of the best. A couple big punt returns, a couple big kick returns that might called back. So, we can eliminate some of the penalties, which we\u2019ve been always practicing, but it\u2019s tough. And I think that\u2019s one of the biggest things that can help us improve field position.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Los Angeles Rams Media Release 08\/01\/2016<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rams Special Teams Coordinator Coach John Fassel \u2013 Post-Special Teams Practice \u2013 August 1, 2016<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories-news-notes-around-professional-football"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54198"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54214,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54198\/revisions\/54214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}