{"id":424446,"date":"2026-08-05T12:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/424446\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T12:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:04:09","slug":"sean-mcvays-love-training-camp-is-winning-over-rams-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/424446\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean McVay’s ‘love’ training camp is winning over Rams players"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NFL training camps are two weeks of hot practices.<\/p>\n

Two weeks of dorm life and meetings. Separation from family.<\/p>\n

For the Rams, under coach Sean McVay<\/a>, it\u2019s also apparently something else.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow he runs it,\u201d safety Kam Curl<\/a> said, \u201cit\u2019s love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Love?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear: Training camps no longer are the two-a-day-workout, full-contact slogs of decades past.<\/p>\n

There is no tackling. Players rarely practice in full pads.<\/p>\n

But it is still a grind to prepare for a 17-game regular-season and, possibly, four postseason games.<\/p>\n

The Rams are regarded as a favorite to play in all 21 \u2014 and to cap the season with a victory in Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With good reason.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Matthew Stafford<\/a> is the reigning NFL most valuable player.<\/p>\n

Like Stafford, receiver Davante Adams<\/a> is probably headed to the Hall of Fame. Receiver Puka Nacua<\/a> could eventually become the highest-paid player at his position in NFL history.<\/p>\n

New defensive end Myles Garrett<\/a> was twice voted NFL defensive player of the year. And three-time defensive player of the year Aaron Donald is possibly coming out of retirement. They, too, are probably heading to the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

So yes: The Rams are a constellation of stars.<\/p>\n

And McVay has proved the ultimate compass.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love these guys,\u201d he said. \u201cI want them to feel like we\u2019re in it with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rams have made the playoffs seven times in nine seasons. They played in two Super Bowls, winning one.<\/p>\n

It all starts with training camp. And McVay.<\/p>\n

\"Rams <\/p>\n

Rams coach Sean McVay talks to players at training camp at Loyola Marymount on July 26.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s had so many elite players to where he knows what it takes,\u201d Curl said, \u201cand he knows when to hold off. … He takes care of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

McVay \u2014 with guidance from Reggie Scott<\/a>, the Rams\u2019 senior vice president of sports medicine and performance \u2014 structures camp at Loyola Marymount in four-day working blocks. Meetings are completed before workouts. Two days of practice are followed by a jogthrough on the third day, and a practice on the fourth before a day off.<\/p>\n

Stafford, Adams and Garrett are among veterans with scheduled rest days.<\/p>\n

That was a new concept for Adams when the 13th-year pro signed with the Rams before last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been told in the past, \u2018You let us know how you\u2019re feeling if you don\u2019t want to go,\u2019\u201d Adams said. \u201cI\u2019m not built that way. I\u2019m not going to tell you I\u2019m not going to practice. You have to tell me I\u2019m not going to practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rams <\/p>\n

Rams coach Sean McVay shares a laugh with receiver Jordan Whittington during training camp on July 26.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

McVay understands that the \u201cold-school way\u201d of toughening and preparing players for a season can be achieved without \u201ckilling us on the field,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we go, we go,\u201d he said. \u201cThe type of people that we have, nobody\u2019s taking advantage of the fact that he\u2019ll look out for us a little bit in the schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n

That includes small things such as no meetings after workouts, said cornerback Trent McDuffie<\/a>, who played his first four NFL seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe allows you to give yourself that mental space to unload and get away from football for a minor second,\u201d McDuffie said of McVay. \u201cNot in the sense of we\u2019re going to leave and go do our own thing but … It\u2019s \u2018come get your recovery, eat, spend time with the guys.\u2019 And I think that\u2019s really cool from a team bonding aspect of how they do things around here.\u201d<\/p>\n

McVay, 40, is a decade removed from the day the Rams made him the youngest coach in the NFL\u2019s modern era.<\/p>\n

During his tenure, he evolved the way the Rams conduct their offseason program and training camp.<\/p>\n

McVay scrapped on-field workouts in post-draft rookie camps after safety John Johnson suffered a groin injury in 2017. He annually cancels or cuts short mandatory minicamps at the end of offseason workouts.<\/p>\n

And he discovered after last summer \u2014 when Stafford sat out all of training camp because of a back issue \u2014 that the 18th-year pro\u2019s absence during camp workouts had no ill effects on Stafford\u2019s performance. And it might actually have enhanced it.<\/p>\n

McVay\u2019s own movements during practices also have changed with time.<\/p>\n

In his first few years, the former quarterback and Georgia state high school player of year routinely shadowed Rams receivers step for step on routes during practice, or lined up opposite them in press coverage.<\/p>\n

McVay does not do that as often, but he still engages players throughout workouts.<\/p>\n

Last week, he arrived for a post-practice news conference with a bloody cut on his hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even know what I did,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI think I got excited hitting somebody\u2019s shoulder pads or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n

No doubt done with purpose. And care.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants you to make plays and he wants you to be great,\u201d Curl said. \u201cSo that\u2019s all we really asked for from a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NFL training camps are two weeks of hot practices. Two weeks of dorm life and meetings. Separation from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-424446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}