LA Rams decision to stay home at Combine proves beneficial

LA Rams decision to stay home during the NFL Scouting Combine proves beneficial

While the 32 teams from the NFL invaded Indianapolis, Indiana on the annual pilgrimage to the NFL Scouting Combine, two NFL teams decided it would be wiser to keep some of the coaches behind. Those two teams were the Denver Broncos, and the LA Rams. While both teams arrived at the same decision, the teams had differing reasons for doing so.

The Denver Broncos decision was made by head coach Vic Fangio, who felt that sending both the coaching staff and personnel staff to the same event was a bit of superfluous redundancy, and he opted to keep key coaches in Denver on a trial-run basis.  Fangio felt the Broncos would be wasting time and money by the typical networking and socializing that takes place at such an annual event.

Behind schedule

The LA Rams borrowed that idea, as the team had just hired his outside linebacker coach, Brandon Staley, to be the Rams’ new defensive coordinator.  When Staley shared the idea with Rams head coach Sean McVay, McVay enthusiastically embraced the idea. After all, the organization had vetted their hiring decisions patiently, deliberately, and thoroughly. While that resulted in hiring three valuable candidates, the Rams fell behind their schedule in preparing for the 2020 season.

The Rams faced an off-season fraught with significant decisions that would carry an impact well into the future. The teams faced the decisions over what to do about RB Todd Gurley, WR Brandin Cooks, and QB Jared Goff.  At the same time, the team faced the NFL Free Agency market with the likelihood of losing 18 players, while only having enough money to realistically hope to re-sign two at most. Finally, the team had a long shopping list and a limited number of draft picks.

Undervalued decision with huge 2020 benefits

It was a surprising decision at the time. But it was one that we supported. The Rams had just hired three new coordinators and were frantically trying to compare notes, align their units with the goals of the team, and interact with the personnel department to effectively assess and shop for new rookie talent for the roster.

And so it made sense for the key coaches to hold their own sessions to enrich and familiarize the group with one another. Much like the new players would face months later, the Rams dug in at the office during the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine and used that time to communicate with one another, develop a game plan for the team, and a playbook for the offense, defense, and special teams.

A lucky break

And just like that, the horrible luck from 2019 handed off to good luck early in 2020.

Was it a popular or unpopular decision? Ultimately, it proved to be a very wise and beneficial one. While nobody could have guessed at how COVID-19 would impact the NFL, the Rams stumbled into a very wise move by the team to get an early advantage. By creating the need to virtually interconnect coaching staff with personnel scouts and directors at a live event, the Rams IT department was prepared to roll out the solution for the Rams virtual orientation and training program.

Prepared for virtual reality

The LA Rams prepared for 2020 better than most teams. After all, the team had a jump start on debugging any and all technical glitches through the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine exercise. But perhaps more importantly, it forced the Rams staff to embrace the virtual office more rapidly than any other NFL team. Not just at the executive level, but even at the field scout level. That rapid integration of all levels of the Rams organization into the capability of virtual reality happened weeks before the rest of the NFL needed to do so.

That ability to access player information, videos from the library, and even performance graphs and charts enabled real-time access of the same information to allow for meaningful discussions to take place anywhere. That sharing of real-time information prepared the coaches for the virtual training camp which soon followed afterward. Since the off-season was so unique, the preparation for discussing players from the Combine and in the weeks leading up to the 2020 NFL Draft set the stage for orienting and training players.

Virtually ready for the 2020 NFL season

Now that the Rams have accomplished the virtual portion of training and preparing for the 2020 NFL season, the team is exercising due diligence and care in preparing for the live on-field portion of training camp.  This will be an accelerated version of camp, as the NFL has delayed the physical face to face portion as long as possible. But ultimately, if the game is to be played, on-field physical practices must take place.

Since this is all new to everyone, nobody has enough experience to assess who performed well and who did not. Analysts and sports reporters rely upon the experiences of 2019 to judge readiness for 2020. While that may be of some benefit, it allows a huge margin of error. Other teams that struggled in 2019 but prepared effectively in 2020 so far will be underestimated. That is likely what the LA Rams will continue to face.  That’s just fine. After all, the Rams make better predators than prey.