Rams wide receiver Tutu Atwell and linebacker Ernest Jones each held video conferences with local media Wednesday, discussing how they're adjusting to life in the NFL and as a Ram, what they're learning from their new teammates, and more.
Here are some of the highlights and key takeaways from those virtual conversations, both of which you can watch in their entirety below:
"Just patience. They're all patient with their routes." – Atwell
- One thing Atwell has learned from working with Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp and DeSean Jackson is that routes cannot be rushed in the Rams' offense.
- "They all get in and out of their breaks fast, and they're some hard-working guys," Atwell said. "That's what you want to be around. They set the tone and I follow it."
"It's a mind thing. I just play with a lot of swag." – Atwell
- Woods said yesterday that playing in the NFL requires a certain swagger, or confidence, and Atwell has it.
- Atwell said if a player doesn't have swag, the game won't be fun, so "you've got to put your own little swag to it and everything else will come with it."
"Last week sometime, I was calling a play out and he didn't hear it, so then he asked me again and I about froze up, just because I was like, 'Bro, this is Aaron Donald.'" – Jones
- Like fellow rookie Bobby Brown III, Jones was also star-struck by Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald.
- Jones said he hopes to eventually have a one-on-one conversation with Donald to learn from him.
"Me and (Rams assistant head coach/running backs) coach (Thomas) Brown, we were always in competition, linebackers versus running backs, so it's going to be kind of the same." – Jones
- By getting drafted by the Rams, Jones reunited with Brown – both of whom were part of the University of South Carolina's football program in 2019, Brown's lone season coaching the Gamecock running backs.
- "We always talked trash to each other, tried to get under each other's skin, so I'm expecting it to be fun," Jones said of working with Brown again.
