Experiencing a Super Bowl championship and a trip to the Pro Bowl in the last two of his eight seasons as a Green Bay Packer, veteran center Scott Wells was one of the NFL's top free agents in 2012.
The Rams, then based in St. Louis, had a couple advantages over the other teams vying for his services, and is why he signed with them. They were closer to his home outside of Nashville. And he was familiar with their head coach from when he was a teenager.
"I didn't know Jeff Fisher personally, but I knew of Jeff from his time with the Titans. He was the coach when I was in high school," Wells said. "And a lot of the players that I knew that had played for him had nothing but great things to say about him.
"Coming to a St Louis Rams team that was in the process of trying to rebuild. New Coaches, new staff, and some other free agent acquisitions. They didn't have to tell me what the expectation was. You come in as a veteran player, the expectations often go with your contract.
"When you have a higher contract and you're a decent hit against the cap, they expect you to lead the group that you're being put in the room with. And provide them with some leadership on the team as a whole, as well."
Wells, as it would turn out, would have to begin his time with the Rams providing that leadership in the locker room instead of on the field. That's because after starting 47 straight games including playoffs for Green Bay, in his debut with St. Louis, the season-opener in Detroit, Wells left the game with a fractured metatarsal in his left foot and went on injured reserve.
"Man, it was weird. It was a non-contact injury on a field I had played on countless times," Wells said. "Obviously, no one likes to come to a new team with the high expectations of being what they were, what I set on myself, plus what the organization is expecting out of me, and I think it was 21 or 22 plays, and I broke my foot. It was just one of those things.
"I had been told that when you age as a football player, you age fast. I had a few injuries in Green Bay, but was relatively healthy. And then I got to St. Louis, and obviously injuring my foot in the opener was not ideal.
"I had not missed more than, I think it was two games in a row in my career. And in college, I didn't miss any. I started 49 consecutive games. So yes, it was frustrating. To come in there and have an injury like that, that's going to require six weeks (of healing and rehabilitation), that was a blow. I wasn't expecting that at all."
Spending three of his 11 seasons in the NFL with the Rams, what makes Wells most proud of his career?
"I would say the longevity based on how it started," he said. "Being drafted towards the end of the seventh round, being cut at final cuts my rookie year, spending some time on the practice squad, finding my way back to getting into the starting lineup, and then holding that starting lineup for as long as I did, and securing a championship, making a Pro Bowl, surviving a move to a new team, these were all things that were important to me. So not just getting there, but making the most of the opportunity when you get there is huge."
Following football, Wells and his wife, Julie, made their home in suburban Nashville with their children: Jackson, Lola, Kingston, Caroline, Eli and R.J., where he became a teacher and coached football and wrestling at his alma mater, Brentwood Academy.
"Being a husband and a father and a family man, playing football takes so much time and effort away from you that even when you're home, you're often not mentally home. So being able to now dial in and watch my kids grow and be a part of that and what they do is huge," Wells said.
"I was blessed to be able to coach my oldest son in 7th through 12th grade. And once he graduated, I committed to one more season and then decided that I needed a break from high school coaching.
"I tried my hand in (tech data-security) sales and realized that wasn't for me. My wife is a realtor, and so I decided to go ahead and get my real estate license to work with her. Anything I can do to help her build her business, that's perfect. It helps friends, family, and it helps us when we do our own real estate transactions."
An NFLPA player rep when he was in the league, Wells was on the union's executive committee during his final year of player and first year of retirement. He stayed involved after that as a member of their political activist committee. He was recently hired as an NFLPA player director.
"There's a lot that goes into it as far as educating and being available to be a resource to the guys in the locker room on what the collectively bargained rights are," Wells said. "And making sure that guys, if they're injured, here are your rights. Here are your rights with retirement and benefits. Here are all of the things that the union has fought for over the years to make sure that you are taken care of. And being available and making sure they understand those.
"As well as conducting union business, as far as making sure guys understand the importance of being a member of the union, paying your dues. If you want something to change, here's how you get it to change. Here's the process. Here's how negotiations work. And really serving in that capacity as a representative of the union and as a liaison between the player and the union."
Besides his work with the union, Wells is also a volunteer football coach at the high school where his youngest son is a freshman on the team.
"They reached out and asked if I would help. And I said, 'I'm on the road a lot with my job. I don't know how much time I can give you.' And they said, 'It doesn't matter. If we can get you at all, we would love it.' And so I'm helping out there as often as I can," Wells said.
