Offensive lineman Jamon Brown is beginning his fourth season as a pro. But this is the first time he's experienced would can be considered an average offseason.
Brown was a third-round pick out of Louisville in 2015. The Rams moved back to Southern California in 2016. And last year, the club adjusted to a coaching change.
Now the franchise is settled in one spot and McVay led the club to a playoff appearance. That stability has had a positive effect.
"It was a little different offseason because we actually went into the playoffs last year, but it was definitely a first look at a normal offseason — to where we don't have coaching changes, where we don't have moves," Brown said this week. "I think that helps a lot of us to be able to just grind and focus on the craft and focus on what we're trying to get done."
And going to the playoffs as Los Angeles did in 2017 has increased the confidence within the club.
Check out photos from day three of the Los Angeles Rams OTA.
"What we did last year is, obviously, turned the corner or make the step in the right direction," Brown said. "Obviously, we can't hang our hats on what happened last year because last year was last year. But with that being said I think we can have some sort of confidence, some sort of swag because of the fact that we did do that last year and kind of hang our hats on that confidently. Like that was us, that's what we did, we can build off that and know that we can just be ten times better than that."
Plus, there's something to be said for the continuity that comes with having success.
"I think that plays a lot into it, being confident and comfortable," Brown said. "Everybody is coming back, we are running some of the same things that we did last year — don't have to worry about the new systems or the new things that come with a new system. We kind of have that level of comfort to where we've been here before, we know some of the this. We hear something and it's like, 'Oh, we remember this from last year.' You're just picking back up on it."
For players like Brown and veteran offensive lineman Rodger Saffold, having all five starting limen from 2017 back in the fold is hugely important in those same areas. And that, according to Saffold, leads to even more improvement in a period like OTAs.
"We've had people that are already shown extreme improvement — Jamon Brown, Rob [Havenstein]," Saffold said. "Just a bunch of the young guys in our line alone have been doing tremendous since coming back for their second year under McVay."
