Winners and losers from the first week of Rams training camp

Winners (continued)

DT Braden Fiske

After the 2024 NFL Draft, the conversations that dominated the LA Rams 2024 Draft class refused to cover anything more than how much the team gave up to select Florida State Seminoles defensive tackle Braden Fiske. But in my opinion, the greater evil would have been not trading up for Fiske, How many opportunities does an NFL team get in any NFL Draft to select multiple star rookie prospects from the same dominating college defense?

If this pans out for the LA Rams in 2024, you can bet it will be a pattern that happens going forward more frequently.

The pressure in on Braden Fiske. Not only because the Rams traded significant value to select him, but also due to the fact that he is the bookend piece to OLB Jared Verse. While Verse was selected in Round 1, he has projected to come off the board as early as a Top 10 selection. Fiske, on the other hand, came off the board in Round 2, where he was projected. But the Rams viewed his pairing with his Seminoles teammate as holding Round 1 value.

So far, Fiske is beating even those lofty expectations. Exhibiting versatility, agility, speed, power, and chaortic unpredictability, Fiske has been laying the lumber already. He is a possessed soul, a singularly focused young man who is determined not to betray the trust given to him by the Rams football team.

Even in college, Fiske and Verse were workaholics who arrived early and stayed late. Now, with the LA Rams football team, Fiske has millions of reasons (money talks) to do so, and he is delivering. Fans will likely not see Fiske compete until opening day against the Detroit Lions. But it will be worth the wait.

P Ethan Evans

There is a great variety of discussions happening among NFL coaches and afficionados about the new NFL kickoff rules and how some teams may seek to modify their strategy. In fact, the new rules place a great deal of pressure on the kicker, who is the last chance defender to stop a huge return. Some teams have discussed placing a non-kicker into that role.

Well, here is a news flash. The Rams have already done so. Kickoff duties are handled by the team's 6-foot-3 250-pound punter, Ethan Evans. And the 23 year old punter is not just big, but he is incredibly strong too. He has bull frog legs, as shown in the short video snippet below:

Evans makes this list because, as good as he was in 2023, he is even better in 2024. One of the challenges to his punts last season was the fact that he punted incredibly far, but due to less hang time, opposing teams were able to negate some of those long booming kicks with great returns. That could be fixed with more hang time.

Which is what Evans is delivering in training camp this season.

There is a lot of pressure on Ethan Evans this season. Far more than other NFL punters. Kickoffs are the talk of the NFL this season, and that falls squarely on the shoulders of the Rams punter/kickoff guy. Evans has been handling the responsibility and uncertainty admirably so far.

Booming punts with high arcs are music to my ears.

Thanks for reading.