OK, let me preface this by saying that this was the first pro practice I have attended (with my lovely wife), so my observations may suffer from inexperience in "scouting" or benefit from a fresh look and viewing from a fantasy perspective.
My background, aside from playing fantasy for about seven years now includes playing fullback at the collegiate level and suffering through three-a-days in the heat/humidity of the Midwest.
The Rams training camp takes place in Earth City, MO (part of St Louis) at the Russell Training Center, very conveniently located just off I-70. Gates opened 30 minutes prior to the 10:05 scheduled start and there was ample free parking. Coolers were allowed, chairs, umbrellas, blankets, etc. There is a berm (hill) at one end zone and bleachers alongside one of two side-by-side fields.
We sat on the berm at the suggestion of one of the staff as today was a scrimmage and only the closest field was used (farthest from the bleachers).
Practice started a bit early (it was hot and humid, so I am sure they wanted to beat the heat). The players look surprisingly normal-sized until you realize that 90% of them are over 6'1" and weight in excess of 200 pounds. A couple guys looked bigger than the others though, notably Alex Barron (T), S Jax, Hedgecock, Carriker and Incognito was prominently displaying his belly with his jersey pulled up to his shoulder pads. Not a six pack on Incognito, more like a keg. He moved fast and explosively though (see story to follow).
The downside to the berm seating was that it was end zone seating so the action was coming at us, rather than being able to watch both sides of the ball and the lines.
Some observations from positional practices.
QB - Bulger was fairly limited and only took snaps for the first team (handoffs to S Jax, throws to Holt, Bruce). Bulger was sharp except for one pass to S Jax that floated when S Jax was covered and was picked. Frerotte is the clear #2 from what I saw today in working with second team and ability. He did throw one in the ground but otherwise made good of his time. Seemed to favor the left side of the field??? Fitzpatrick is a clear step down from Frerotte and did not impress me. Brock Berlin wore jersey number 3 (all qb in non-contact yellow), aside from that he did not do much else well with the exception of a scramble that went for a TD. Unless they keep 4 qb, he is practice squad. Fitz could be replaced easily by a fast reading qb with a sharp arm.
RB - S Jax is bigger than the linebackers and is a beast. Awesome foot work, no drops in passes, cuts on the field like it is the game pad for Dance, Dance Revolution and will come at the defender to get the yards. S Jax can cut between defenders at the first level and outrun any linebacker. Amazing moves. Also, he will take no flack from any D. He is top tier, no question. Leonard was getting the second team touches. He is built lighter than S Jax (thought he was supposed to be a power player) and I was really surprised to see that he does not get great pad level, runs with his feet close, kinda tip-toed in a few cuts I saw clearly and tried to get yards through agility rather than power. I will be interested to see if he is effective in the role of a S Jax type back. Travis Minor took third team snaps and did well. Nothing overly remarkable. Hedgecock is thick. He is listed at 6'3" and 256 and looked it. Caught the ball well and was used in a couple pass plays. The remainder of the backs were negligible (not to sound demeaning).
WR - Holt made good cuts and walked without favoring either leg with one exception when he kinda hopped in his gait a couple times. May have been nothing since I was watching for problems. Anyone worried about Bruce losing catches to Bennet need not worry. I had not been a big Bruce fan before but the guy is automatic. Sharp routes, velcro hands and caught in traffic very naturally. In a PPR league, I would not hesitate to have Bruce as a WR2 based on this one practice. He was Bulger's favorite target. Dane Looker dropped a couple and did not impress. Bennet has very good hands but his routes look like they were done by following the Arthur Murray dance steps. Nothing like Bruce's. A rookie, Marque White (free agent) has wheels and fairly good hands but looks destined for practice squad.Derek Stanley had a great runback in kickoff return that went the distance and might take the last WR spot. He dropped on as well.
TE - Not involved in the O at all in the first and second team. McMichael I saw once in motion and Klopfenstein I could not find anywhere, seriously. Aaron Walker caught a long ball in the only TE pass (third team) I saw.
K - Wilkins, 2 of 2 from inside the 20. Can't comment anymore than that. Fans are not allowed to keep the balls.
D - D line, good but handled well by first team O line. Carriker seemed to get double teamed a lot and did plug up the hole pretty well. The secondary looked weak and LB vary from good coverage to "Oh, you weren't ready? Want a Mulligan?"
O Line - Very solid. Incognito is a thug on the field and Pace is supposedly fully healthy. Barron looks like a science fiction prop he is so big. Pace is supposedly as tall but did not look it, maybe he is thicker. Pace was a slacker in the warm ups and his flexibility was slighter better than the robot from the original "Lost in Space" that hollered "Danger, danger Will Robinson".
Fan fun - S Jax cut and juked into a long gain and ended up in the secondary (it may have been a pass, but I couldn't see the initial play develop as I was trying to find someone on the roster). He ended up getting tagged by the safety Atogwe (#21) who either tried to strip the ball or shoved S Jax at the end of the play. S Jax shoved back, Atogwe shoved and S Jax rocked him with a push. Atogwe then came at S Jax, who hit Atogwe in the head (helmet) and a melee ensued (more of a scrum but I like the word melee). Suddenly, a helmet went flying off into the air from the midst of the multi-talented millionaires and the coaches lazily broke up the mob. Atogwe was bad mouthing an O player (I think a lineman, holding his helmet - was it his that came off and he retrieved it?) I think there was another push or two and then as I was looking at the roster to see who #21 was a helmet was thrown from one player and hit another in the head. My wife witnessed this and couldn't tell me who
Suddenly, like a WWE wrestler who showed up three minutes late to the cage match, Incognito hurled himself into Atogwe and slammed him into the ground. Being a native Husker, I know Incognito's rep of being thuggish and I am pretty sure he was happy to "support his offensive teammates." Atogwe spent the remainder of the practice (that I saw) running grinders with the scrubs.
Bought an overpriced T-shirt that says "Property of the St Louis Rams Training Camp" against my philosophy of spending too much for anything, but this was a fun event. Anyone in a 100 mile radius who does not take advantage is really missing out. If we can get my daughter set up to stay at a friends, we are going to try to get to a pre-season game (cheap for tickets). Who knows, after my daughter gets to college, we evolve to going to regular season games.
Any questions, feel free and I will try to answer.
I have no reservations about Bulger, Bruce, S Jax, didn't see enough involvement of Holt to get a great feel for this year compared to standard Holt and would not put the St L TEs or D too high in the rankings. Bennet, nice addition but didn't get enough first team involvement to merit anything above a WR 3/4.
ETA - Dante Hall was not dressed out for practice. On sidelines in shorts and no pads but had a nice hat on, LOL
Especially a series or two in the first week of camp.
Looking forward to Friday vs Vikes.
