Check out photos from day one of the Los Angeles Rams OTA.
As Los Angeles kicked off the first day of organized team activities in the 2018 offseason, comfort seemed to be the theme of the day among Rams players and coaches.
Monday's practice marked the second year of OTAs for the club under head coach Sean McVay, allowing the team to focus less on installing systems and more on perfecting them.
"Comfortable is the best word," quarterback Jared Goff said. "Stuff begins to slow down a bit more [and] it seems like it does every year, all the way through high school, through college and now into the NFL."
"It's the same approach, it's Day 1 for us," running back Todd Gurley said. "[We're] taking it one day at a time. It was good — first official day back of 2018, a pretty good practice."
Day 1 of the Rams OTA program ran much like a normal practice session, consisting of both individual and team drills, with all coaches allowed on field. Though the NFL does mandate that no live contact may take place during Phase III, L.A was still able to run seven-on-seven and 11-on-11 drills during the session.
As such, Monday represented the first time in several months that players on both sides of the ball got to match up against each other in live action.
"I think what you really liked was just the energy and the way guys competed," head coach Sean McVay said. "I think just in terms of the way guys competed together on both sides of the ball, we were pleased with that. It was a good start."
One of the newer faces involved on the offensive side was wide receiver Brandin Cooks. Though Cooks is new to McVay's offense, several of Cooks' new teammates praised the wideout's work ethic and early performance.
"He's a sponge — he wants to learn, he wants to be great," Goff said Monday. "It's a great guy to have in the room with those other guys."
"A great receiver, been a great receiver since college," Gurley added. "He has three or four 1,000 yard seasons for a reason. A fast guy [and a] hard worker in the weight room and in the film room. Just good to have him as part of our offense."
And on defense, cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters also made their Rams' OTA debuts, bringing with them an increased sense of competition and energy.
"It's been exciting. It's fun to see those corners out there, guys you have a lot of respect for," McVay said of the new additions. "You certainly feel those guys out there. I know they're excited about just continuing to get more and more familiar with some of the things, [but] it was fun to watch."
