THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Rams head coach Sean McVay and special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn each held press conferences with local media following the team's OTA practice on Tuesday, the third that was open to the media this spring.
McVay discussed the statuses of Ernest Jones IV and Rob Havenstein, while Blackburn dove into the new kickoff format, among other topics.
Here are some of the highlights and key takeways from those conversations:
"(Ernest)'s had a little issue with his knee. He's making good progress with the offseason winding down. The goal is to be ready to go and feel good for training camp. Same thing with Rob." – McVay
- Jones and Havenstein did not part participate in team drills during Tuesday's OTA session, but it's part of a precautionary approach to have them ready to go for training camp.
- "These are guys that have played a lot of football, so we err on the side of caution," McVay said.
"You see the size really from our tight end group as a whole, but he's (Colby Parkinson) definitely going to add real value." – McVay
- McVay is excited about what tight end Colby Parkinson can add to Los Angeles' offense.
- "The size, the instincts, just the overall character," were some of the things that stood out to McVay about Parkinson.
"It's like freeze tag, almost. ... You're frozen until the ball is touched or hits the ground." – Blackburn
- One of the biggest storylines for special teams in particular this spring was the passing of the new kickoff format.
- "It's such a unique play with its own rules," Blackburn said.
"There's definitely some variables there." – Blackburn
- The rules for returners is making special teams coaches re-think who they might put in those positions.
- "One of the things that we really tried to identify is guys that (are) like center fielders, that can cover a lot of ground, can have a great jump off the off the bat," Blackburn said.
