THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – To get an idea of how special this moment is for tight end Colby Parkinson, consider who was with him as he put pen to paper on his 3-year deal with the Rams.

The Simi Valley native and Oaks Christian School grad was joined by his parents, Mike and Kim, as he signed that contract, with his wife, Melanie, joining via FaceTime (Colby shared on social media that Melanie is 39 weeks pregnant).

"Just pure excitement," Parkinson said of his Los Angeles homecoming becoming a reality. "Obviously, like you said, I grew up around here and love the area, went to Oaks Christian. So the opportunity to come back here and have a role in the community is going to be huge for me and to back in the sunshine and around so many friends and family is going to be a blessing."

Beyond that connection, Parkinson saw the Rams and their offense as a natural fit in making the decision to sign a 3-year deal with them. He knows it well, having previously played for NFC West rival Seattle, and has been a fan of it from afar, noting how head coach Sean McVay and his staff can work up different designs to attack different parts of the field.

"They're working the seams, they're working those deep ins. They're working the gap scheme a lot," Parkinson said. "The way they can do some different things with the single tight end, two tight end sets."

He also already has a positive first impression of his position coach and pass game coordinator Nick Caley.

"We talked on the phone yesterday at three o'clock central, which was the first minute that we could talk legally so that was pretty fun to get a phone call from him," Parkinson said. "Man, he's awesome. He seems so fired up about getting me in the building and what we can do together, so looking forward to working with him and like I said, helping this team win some ball games."

Elsewhere in that position room, Parkinson said Tyler Higbee will be a "huge influence" on his transition to the Rams. Parkinson trained with Higbee a little bit last offseason.

"The past couple years we've gotten to know each other so having him around is going to be a huge blessing," Parkinson said. "I think going into this season, it's not just going to be me being the veteran, he's going to be a huge, huge help, a huge part of it and he's just as much in the room as I will be. So looking forward to working with him and the other guys as well."