Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay talks about rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson's preseason performance against the Cleveland Browns, finalizing the 53-man roster, and injury updates for players such as offensive lineman Alaric Jackson and outside linebacker Josaiah Stewart.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good, look good, did a good job.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Full participant again, so we're in good shape. It's gonna
be the same answer. Yeah, I mean like and I
mean that too, like, I mean, he's doing great. He's
one hundred percent participant. He's doing a heck of a job,
you know, taking care of himself with a lot of
different things. As soon as we get off the grass,
he and Reggie have a great plan. But you know,
I can't see into the future, but I certainly you know,
(00:23):
if you look at what the last week is entailed,
feel really good and there's nothing that would lead me
to believe unless we have an unforeseen setback, that he's
not gonna be ready role against the Texans.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I think it's been great.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
You know, he's so smart, he's such a conscientious player.
I think, you know, even each of the last couple
of years. You know, he's a veteran presence. He's played
a lot of football, but he's got this young energy.
You know, you can see he's he's really competitive player,
but he's a great communicator. I just think having him around,
you know where he's got some wisdom. He's got a
bunch of different experiences, he's accumulated but you know, really
as an understanding and an ownership of the intent of
(01:02):
what we're trying to really get done.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
And so he's played at a really high level.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I really think our our corner group as a whole
is really deep. You know, we've got what we look
at as four starting corners, and that's a positive thing
for us with a Kello, with the Kobe, with Darius
and with Emmanuel Forbes and so you know, that's a
real positive thing for us with good line approach.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yep, you know exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Where you're at play.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
For I do, yeah, I do. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
At this point, I mean today's practice, you know it
kind of confirmed. But you know, this was the last
physical evaluation that we had until we have to make
cuts until tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
But but yes, I do know what our fifty three
is going to be.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
To be evaluated.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
No, he's good.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
You know, he's gonna partake in next Monday's practice, Wednesday
and Thursday, and then he'll just do the jog through
stuff on Friday.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So it's really cool. I think we've got a good
plan in place. Again, that is.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Something you know, whether you talk about Matthew's back or
the thing with Alaric, you know that I certainly have
never dealt with before, So I think that demands, you know, flexibility.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
But we feel really good. I mean, he has put
so much work in.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I think he's handled it like a total stud and
I'm really happy for him that all things are pointing
to him being ready to go and being able to
manage this. And I think there's been a lot of
work behind the scenes of being educated on how many
people have really been able.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
To deal with this.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
What's the best way to be able to you know,
have the meds, then you get off of them, so
you don't leave yourself susceptible to some of the things
that the medication, you know, can you know, prevent you
from being able to play football. And so he's done
a lot of work. I think we've got a really
good gauge on when those get out of his system.
And feel really fortunate that that's the direction that we're
treading in.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah. Absolutely, So you've got your initial fifty three.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
What's the problem? How involve you you now with other teams? Player?
You know, well, I think you look at it, Gary,
I have such trusts and less and you know, John
McKay and Matt Waugh and Ray Farmer. You know, they
do such a great job and so you know, fortunately
you're pretty deep in the claim order just based on
(03:13):
where we finished, and so you know, that's something that
you always are mindful of and you monitor. But I
feel really good about what our fifty three is going
to look at, and you know, it changes. You know,
I think this narrative of the fifty three and then
it's always set. I mean, you guys know as well
as I do. There's so much flexibility that's needed. You
might practice squad flex guys up. You know, who gets
(03:34):
a jersey forty eight out of the fifty three maybe
end up putting somebody down, flex somebody up. And so
there's a lot of different things. But I do feel
really good about the way that our roster is shaped up.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Hopefully we came.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Out of this practice clean and then everybody everything will
be able to kind of stay according to plan with
what our fifty three is going into tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Sure, yeah, let you.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Talking about an offseason, but how you know, I think
he'd be best equipped to answer that. I think the
most important thing is is, you know, how do you
(04:26):
find a way to be able to understand how important
the work is, but allow yourself to stay emotionally, mentally
and physically as fresh and engaged throughout the season. There
is some monotonous parts of training camp, there are some
monotonous parts of the offseason program that.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Are very necessary for a lot of guys.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
But I don't think you pigeonhole yourself into a one
size fits all approach. You know, there are certain things
that we have consistent standards that everybody abides by, but
there is an awareness and an understanding of you know,
some of our veteran players, you know, how do we
keep them mentally, physically and emotionally sharp.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
And that goes for all of our players.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
But I think with the veteran players you can take
a little bit different strategic approach, and so with Matthew,
I think that served him well. You know, you get
some time with you know, your family, and you know
the beautiful little girls, you know more than you would otherwise.
But I think just to keep him feeling like, hey man,
it's fun, it's engaging. He loves being out here practicing
and competing. And then you know, does he need to
hear you know, some of our standard two by two
(05:20):
formations at the beginning, No he doesn't need to know
that kind he doesn't need to be there for those
kind of things, and so picking and choosing our spots,
you know, that was part of the plan. Obviously it
kind of organically unfolded, maybe a little later than we anticipated.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
But I think he is having a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I think he's enjoying it, and sometimes that absence you
can really have an appropriate perspective of how much he
loved doing this stuff. And that's what I felt from him,
you know, the last week and a half. Yeah, you
know it, we adjusted that plan a little bit just
(05:55):
based on him getting out there last week, and so
we naturally kind of have a four week or a
four days block anyways, where you're kind of deloaded on
that third day. So he's been a full participant really
in everything. He's he's been able to you know, feel good,
you know, each of the next mornings. And so we'll
continue on with that and then you know, we'll see
what the in season approaching tales. He's he's in the
(06:17):
concussion protocol, so he ended up having a little incident
last week and so you know, hopefully we'll get him
out of that, and uh, you know, he's doing good,
making good progress.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
It was good.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
You know. I thought he did a really nice job.
You know, I think, you know, he did a good
job in the run game. I think he can finish
a little bit better on some of those things.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
And he knows that.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
We talked about it because I got a lot of
confidence in him not to just be a receiving tight end,
but a complete tight end. And then in the receiving stuff,
I thought it was cool. You know, he ended up
winning on the slot fade where we just missed him,
then came back to it, ended up hitting him on that,
and then the little bootleg where gets a good run
after the catch. He's just kind of got a good,
feel good tempo to his game. I thought he did well.
As your offense is all you know the seasons, how
(07:03):
is this way being different?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Without being too specific.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I don't know the answer to that yet, you know,
I mean, we wematically will be. Well, here's what I
would say going into nine seasons. What answer do you
think I'm really gonna give you? If you know me, well,
you know we've known each other for nine seasons now,
there's no chance I'm giving you anything that would give
us any relevant information But here's what I will tell you, Gary,
(07:29):
I think you have to have fluidity and flexibility. You know,
we have an idea, all right, how do you want
to implement Davonte? How does that affect Puka to to
Jordan Whittington? How about the tight ends where we've got
some good depth there. What does it look like for
our offensive line with the different run schemes that we
think they can bring to life? What fits Kyroen and
Blake and so what's best for Matthews? So all of
those things we have in mind, and we have foundational
(07:50):
parts of our offense that are always going to be
just part of our natural installation progressing. But as the
season goes and then as the opponent changes, you know,
we have to have necessary things that are priority calls
versus these types of defenses or these are all purpose
types of things.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
And so I think that is to be determined. I
look at it.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
You always have an idea, you always have a plan
in place, but based on your personnel number one.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And then you know the opponent, and then you.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Know what do your guys do best? Those are things
that we're always evaluating. And you know what's unique about
this time of year is we've got a great defensive
front that we're positively pushing one another. Really just defense
as a whole, but they play a specific way and
there's certain things that we wouldn't do that maybe we
would do against the Texans type of defense that we
think tactically is more advantageous. So that's the unique thing
(08:37):
that we've always got to be able to feel out
as we go, and like anything else, those coaches and
players do a great job of adjusting as seasons progress
as well.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
So we'll see.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
But I will say I feel really excited about this group.
I love how connected they are. I love the way
that they positively push one another. I've really enjoyed every
single day with them and they you know, it's it's
easy to feel motivated and excited to come to work
when you're like, man, I don't want to let these
guys down, whether it's your players or your coaches, because
you just love being around the group of people that
you're working with. And uh, there's a whole hell of
(09:09):
a lot to be said for that.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
How do you have a.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, you know, I think that's pretty consistent with every
team now almost you know, we've got guys that are
you know, a lot of different places every single year
provoked you know, presents challenges brocking. So I think for
us we've got to do a good job of not
overthinking some things. You know, you might know it, but
when are you going to do those types of things?
And so I think those narratives are fun. There's certain
just standard stuff that they might know that we have
(09:41):
to be mindful of, some of the just the verbids
at the line of scrimmage, maybe your cadence, but I
think you can sometimes, you know, get a little bit
of a paralysis by analysis if you overthink those things.
And still is going to be about executing and playing
the best of our ability once snap at a time. Okay,
there's a number of a lot of in or going
to make the monster yeps close to making the monster play.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah, I think you just mentioned it.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
And I think the important thing is is real clarity
with the feedback. You know, if you care about these
guys enough, you want to be honest with them, you
want to have the appropriate empathy and tone. But the
first thing we always try to do is make sure
that there's an appreciation and gratitude for the work they
put in. If this means this is the end of
the journey for now with us. And then I think
you want to be able to provide real feedback of Okay,
here are some things that we think and shit doesn't
(10:32):
mean that I'm always right, but we try to do
best for these guys of trying to provide tangible feedback
of what allows them to be able to move forward
in the best positive manner. And so I think that's
really important. I think clarity is a gift for people,
you know, and I think it can be a force multiplier.
And I think leaning into some of those hard conversations
with the right tone, the right appreciation is what we
want to really be able to try to do. And
(10:54):
I think it's so important for us to do that,
and that's what we'll try to you know, land the
We'll try to be able to thread the needle appropriately.
Though it was really, you know, such a class act
of the way that the eleven guys we sat down
with yesterday handled themselves. It's a really cool reflection of
the way that these players have poured into their teammates
the feedback I got from them yesterday. And then there's
going to be some hard conversations tomorrow. But those are
(11:14):
the difficult parts of this job. But I think you
owe it to them to, you know, establish appreciation, but
also in honesty of you know, why are we in
this position and how can you move forward positively
Good, look good, did a good job.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Full participant again, so we're in good shape. It's gonna
be the same answer. Yeah, I mean like and I
mean that too, like, I mean, he's doing great. He's
one hundred percent participant. He's doing a heck of a job,
you know, taking care of himself with a lot of
different things. As soon as we get off the grass,
he and Reggie have a great plan. But you know,
I can't see into the future, but I certainly you know,
(00:23):
if you look at what the last week is entailed,
feel really good and there's nothing that would lead me
to believe unless we have an unforeseen setback, that he's
not gonna be ready role against the Texans.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I think it's been great.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
You know, he's so smart, he's such a conscientious player.
I think, you know, even each of the last couple
of years. You know, he's a veteran presence. He's played
a lot of football, but he's got this young energy.
You know, you can see he's he's really competitive player,
but he's a great communicator. I just think having him around,
you know where he's got some wisdom. He's got a
bunch of different experiences, he's accumulated but you know, really
as an understanding and an ownership of the intent of
(01:02):
what we're trying to really get done.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
And so he's played at a really high level.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I really think our our corner group as a whole
is really deep. You know, we've got what we look
at as four starting corners, and that's a positive thing
for us with a Kello, with the Kobe, with Darius
and with Emmanuel Forbes and so you know, that's a
real positive thing for us with good line approach.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yep, you know exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Where you're at play.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
For I do, yeah, I do. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
At this point, I mean today's practice, you know it
kind of confirmed. But you know, this was the last
physical evaluation that we had until we have to make
cuts until tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
But but yes, I do know what our fifty three
is going to be.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
To be evaluated.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
No, he's good.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
You know, he's gonna partake in next Monday's practice, Wednesday
and Thursday, and then he'll just do the jog through
stuff on Friday.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So it's really cool. I think we've got a good
plan in place. Again, that is.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Something you know, whether you talk about Matthew's back or
the thing with Alaric, you know that I certainly have
never dealt with before, So I think that demands, you know, flexibility.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
But we feel really good. I mean, he has put
so much work in.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I think he's handled it like a total stud and
I'm really happy for him that all things are pointing
to him being ready to go and being able to
manage this. And I think there's been a lot of
work behind the scenes of being educated on how many
people have really been able.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
To deal with this.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
What's the best way to be able to you know,
have the meds, then you get off of them, so
you don't leave yourself susceptible to some of the things
that the medication, you know, can you know, prevent you
from being able to play football. And so he's done
a lot of work. I think we've got a really
good gauge on when those get out of his system.
And feel really fortunate that that's the direction that we're
treading in.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah. Absolutely, So you've got your initial fifty three.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
What's the problem? How involve you you now with other teams? Player?
You know, well, I think you look at it, Gary,
I have such trusts and less and you know, John
McKay and Matt Waugh and Ray Farmer. You know, they
do such a great job and so you know, fortunately
you're pretty deep in the claim order just based on
(03:13):
where we finished, and so you know, that's something that
you always are mindful of and you monitor. But I
feel really good about what our fifty three is going
to look at, and you know, it changes. You know,
I think this narrative of the fifty three and then
it's always set. I mean, you guys know as well
as I do. There's so much flexibility that's needed. You
might practice squad flex guys up. You know, who gets
(03:34):
a jersey forty eight out of the fifty three maybe
end up putting somebody down, flex somebody up. And so
there's a lot of different things. But I do feel
really good about the way that our roster is shaped up.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Hopefully we came.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Out of this practice clean and then everybody everything will
be able to kind of stay according to plan with
what our fifty three is going into tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Sure, yeah, let you.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Talking about an offseason, but how you know, I think
he'd be best equipped to answer that. I think the
most important thing is is, you know, how do you
(04:26):
find a way to be able to understand how important
the work is, but allow yourself to stay emotionally, mentally
and physically as fresh and engaged throughout the season. There
is some monotonous parts of training camp, there are some
monotonous parts of the offseason program that.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Are very necessary for a lot of guys.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
But I don't think you pigeonhole yourself into a one
size fits all approach. You know, there are certain things
that we have consistent standards that everybody abides by, but
there is an awareness and an understanding of you know,
some of our veteran players, you know, how do we
keep them mentally, physically and emotionally sharp.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
And that goes for all of our players.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
But I think with the veteran players you can take
a little bit different strategic approach, and so with Matthew,
I think that served him well. You know, you get
some time with you know, your family, and you know
the beautiful little girls, you know more than you would otherwise.
But I think just to keep him feeling like, hey man,
it's fun, it's engaging. He loves being out here practicing
and competing. And then you know, does he need to
hear you know, some of our standard two by two
(05:20):
formations at the beginning, No he doesn't need to know
that kind he doesn't need to be there for those
kind of things, and so picking and choosing our spots,
you know, that was part of the plan. Obviously it
kind of organically unfolded, maybe a little later than we anticipated.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
But I think he is having a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I think he's enjoying it, and sometimes that absence you
can really have an appropriate perspective of how much he
loved doing this stuff. And that's what I felt from him,
you know, the last week and a half. Yeah, you
know it, we adjusted that plan a little bit just
(05:55):
based on him getting out there last week, and so
we naturally kind of have a four week or a
four days block anyways, where you're kind of deloaded on
that third day. So he's been a full participant really
in everything. He's he's been able to you know, feel good,
you know, each of the next mornings. And so we'll
continue on with that and then you know, we'll see
what the in season approaching tales. He's he's in the
(06:17):
concussion protocol, so he ended up having a little incident
last week and so you know, hopefully we'll get him
out of that, and uh, you know, he's doing good,
making good progress.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
It was good.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
You know. I thought he did a really nice job.
You know, I think, you know, he did a good
job in the run game. I think he can finish
a little bit better on some of those things.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
And he knows that.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
We talked about it because I got a lot of
confidence in him not to just be a receiving tight end,
but a complete tight end. And then in the receiving stuff,
I thought it was cool. You know, he ended up
winning on the slot fade where we just missed him,
then came back to it, ended up hitting him on that,
and then the little bootleg where gets a good run
after the catch. He's just kind of got a good,
feel good tempo to his game. I thought he did well.
As your offense is all you know the seasons, how
(07:03):
is this way being different?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Without being too specific.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I don't know the answer to that yet, you know,
I mean, we wematically will be. Well, here's what I
would say going into nine seasons. What answer do you
think I'm really gonna give you? If you know me, well,
you know we've known each other for nine seasons now,
there's no chance I'm giving you anything that would give
us any relevant information But here's what I will tell you, Gary,
(07:29):
I think you have to have fluidity and flexibility. You know,
we have an idea, all right, how do you want
to implement Davonte? How does that affect Puka to to
Jordan Whittington? How about the tight ends where we've got
some good depth there. What does it look like for
our offensive line with the different run schemes that we
think they can bring to life? What fits Kyroen and
Blake and so what's best for Matthews? So all of
those things we have in mind, and we have foundational
(07:50):
parts of our offense that are always going to be
just part of our natural installation progressing. But as the
season goes and then as the opponent changes, you know,
we have to have necessary things that are priority calls
versus these types of defenses or these are all purpose
types of things.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
And so I think that is to be determined. I
look at it.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
You always have an idea, you always have a plan
in place, but based on your personnel number one.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And then you know the opponent, and then you.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Know what do your guys do best? Those are things
that we're always evaluating. And you know what's unique about
this time of year is we've got a great defensive
front that we're positively pushing one another. Really just defense
as a whole, but they play a specific way and
there's certain things that we wouldn't do that maybe we
would do against the Texans type of defense that we
think tactically is more advantageous. So that's the unique thing
(08:37):
that we've always got to be able to feel out
as we go, and like anything else, those coaches and
players do a great job of adjusting as seasons progress
as well.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
So we'll see.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
But I will say I feel really excited about this group.
I love how connected they are. I love the way
that they positively push one another. I've really enjoyed every
single day with them and they you know, it's it's
easy to feel motivated and excited to come to work
when you're like, man, I don't want to let these
guys down, whether it's your players or your coaches, because
you just love being around the group of people that
you're working with. And uh, there's a whole hell of
(09:09):
a lot to be said for that.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
How do you have a.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, you know, I think that's pretty consistent with every
team now almost you know, we've got guys that are
you know, a lot of different places every single year
provoked you know, presents challenges brocking. So I think for
us we've got to do a good job of not
overthinking some things. You know, you might know it, but
when are you going to do those types of things?
And so I think those narratives are fun. There's certain
just standard stuff that they might know that we have
(09:41):
to be mindful of, some of the just the verbids
at the line of scrimmage, maybe your cadence, but I
think you can sometimes, you know, get a little bit
of a paralysis by analysis if you overthink those things.
And still is going to be about executing and playing
the best of our ability once snap at a time. Okay,
there's a number of a lot of in or going
to make the monster yeps close to making the monster play.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah, I think you just mentioned it.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
And I think the important thing is is real clarity
with the feedback. You know, if you care about these
guys enough, you want to be honest with them, you
want to have the appropriate empathy and tone. But the
first thing we always try to do is make sure
that there's an appreciation and gratitude for the work they
put in. If this means this is the end of
the journey for now with us. And then I think
you want to be able to provide real feedback of Okay,
here are some things that we think and shit doesn't
(10:32):
mean that I'm always right, but we try to do
best for these guys of trying to provide tangible feedback
of what allows them to be able to move forward
in the best positive manner. And so I think that's
really important. I think clarity is a gift for people,
you know, and I think it can be a force multiplier.
And I think leaning into some of those hard conversations
with the right tone, the right appreciation is what we
want to really be able to try to do. And
(10:54):
I think it's so important for us to do that,
and that's what we'll try to you know, land the
We'll try to be able to thread the needle appropriately.
Though it was really, you know, such a class act
of the way that the eleven guys we sat down
with yesterday handled themselves. It's a really cool reflection of
the way that these players have poured into their teammates
the feedback I got from them yesterday. And then there's
going to be some hard conversations tomorrow. But those are
(11:14):
the difficult parts of this job. But I think you
owe it to them to, you know, establish appreciation, but
also in honesty of you know, why are we in
this position and how can you move forward positively
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd is a thought-provoking, opinionated, and topic-driven journey through the top sports stories of the day.