Rams TE Gerald Everett – Training Camp Arrivals – July 26, 2017

(On what's going on)

"I am just ready to get started with camp. I am ready to compete."

(On how eager he is to start training camp)

"I am very eager. I am ready to team up with (TE) Tyler (Higbee) and the rest of the guys and I am really excited about the 12 personnel and being able to throw the ball in our offense and get back to the playoffs."

(On if he spent the summer in Los Angeles)

"I did. I did. I was training over at Sports Academy with Nate and a bunch of other guys – (RB) Todd (Gurley), (WR [Nelson) Spruce, Tyler. It was a bunch of guys, too many to name, but yeah just about every day."   (On how much of Sean McVay's offense he has a grasp on)

"Coach McVay has done a great job in warming me up into the playbook. Coming from a no-huddle in college. I feel like he has definitely been a great teacher, along with (TE) Coach Shane Waldron and showing me what I need to do and my responsibilities in our offense." 

(On how much he has gotten to know Tyler Higbee)

"Tyler and I spent a lot of time, especially this offseason in the summer. We workout every day. We usually spend about three or four hours together each morning. I would say that we are bonding pretty good." 

(On the potential for him and Tyler Higbee to be on the field together)

"I think that we complement each other very well. Tyler is more of a big body tight end, so I feel like we could be better than the Redskins tight ends, if I can say that." 

(On that being a lofty goal)

"Yeah, it is. I am pretty confident in us."

(On who would be Jordan Reed and who would be Vernon Davis)

"I am not sure about that. I don't know. We will just have to wait and see."

(On if he watched Amazon's All or Nothing)

"I did. I caught a couple clips of it. I didn't even know about it until I went back home to spend some time with my family and they informed me about it. But I think I saw episodes seven and eight, so I don't know if we are still going to continue that. I was pretty impressed about it."

(On if there was anything about the organization as a whole that stood out in All or Nothing)

"Not really. Not really. I came on my visit, so I think I pretty much know everything there is to know about the guys that I am working with." 

(On what his sense is with how many chances him and Higbee will be on the field together)

"The chance that we are going to get, I feel like is going to be great, and it is going to be very monumental to say the least. So I feel like Tyler and I are going to complement each other, like I said before and we are going to be dynamic."

(On his impression of QB Jared Goff)

"(QB) Jared (Goff) is a great guy. He is a great quarterback and this year it is going to be a 'show me year', so we are going to have to complement each other along with Todd and Tyler and myself. Only time will tell."

(On if there was anything that he saw from Goff that surprised him)

"No, I caught a couple of Jared's games at California, so I wouldn't say that I was too surprised about it when I saw him in person."

(On his takeaways from his experiences with Goff thus far)

"That he can keep plays alive. Also with (QB) Sean Mannion, but Jared is a great guy on and off the field and he has definitely helped me learn this playbook and the systematics and the schemes of everything, so he is a great guy. I can't say (enough) about him."

(On what his TV package was down at South Alabama that allowed him to watch University of California football games)

"Oh, man. No, I actually used to go to – we had this bar called Sports Heroes right across from our apartment complex that I used to catch a lot of college games at when we weren't playing. I didn't spend too much time in my room watching college football."

(On the adjustments to living out in Los Angeles on the West Coast)

"Not too many adjustments. I grew up in a big city in Atlanta. The weather is great out here, the taxes are high, but other than that it is a great city."

(On the weather being great)

"Yeah. No rain, so I can't complain about that."

Rams WR Cooper Kupp – Training Camp Arrivals – July 26, 2017

(On what he's been doing since minicamp concluded)

"You get a little bit of time to go home and see family a little bit. But, really it was just getting back to work and making sure I am coming into camp in the best possible shape I can be in, understanding the offense as best I can and just making sure when I am coming into this thing…The goal is to get better every day and that doesn't matter whether it is the offseason or in season. When I go to bed at night, the thoughts that are going through my head are, 'Did I do what I needed to do to be the best me?'"

(On if he is ready to have a considerable role in the Rams' offense)

"Yeah, I am really just showing up here to be the best me I can be. The ultimate goal is to win games and my goal at the end of the day is to just help be a part of that in any way that I can."

(On his thoughts of being listed as a projected starter)

"There has been stuff coming out of the media about stuff like that, but at the end of the day I'm just here for the team. I am here to be the best me that I can be, like I have said before. All of that stuff is speculation. I still haven't done anything yet. I just want to come in here and at the end of the day I want to get better every single day and be a part of winning games as a Ram."

(On if being a projected starter going into his rookie year is a manifestation of his hard work and preparation)

"Yeah, well I think that is kind of a staple of…I would like people to say that when they describe the kind of player that I am, is someone that prepares like a pro. So, I am not sure where this came from, where the end result came from. But, if people are describing me as a player, that is where I want to land – is someone that is putting everything they can do into this game and controlling what I can control, which is my attitude and my effort. That is always going to be on par with who I am as a player and it is going to be very important for me to carry that through day-by-day and all the way through my career."

(On where his work ethic came from)

"I don't know. From a young age I knew I wanted to play football. I do everything I can to be the best that I can be at what I do. I believe that it is not worth doing if you are not trying to be the best at it and football is something that I believe I was made to do, so I am going to put everything that I have into it. There were times growing up where I wasn't the biggest or strongest or fastest. It took a lot of hard work to try and keep up with my friends and be a part of that group and achieve the things that I wanted to. 
So through that it was really my dad and my grandpa who really encouraged me and pushed me to continue to put my head down and just continue to work and earn everything I can."

(On if part of his work ethic was fueled by the doubt that has surrounded him throughout his career)

"You know, I think the doubts there and the doubts are going to come, but I think it was never something that fueled me more. I was motivated because of the person that I am, because of who God created me to be. The doubts were there just because that is how things go sometimes. But the doubt in my mind, which is the most important thing, was never there. I believed that I can play this game and let other people think what they can and just control what I can control."  

(On if he continued to work with QB Jared Goff after OTAs)

"Yeah, he lives about 15 minutes from me. So, I got a chance to work out with him a little bit, throw – all the guys. We had a good group of guys that were able to come out and throw and go through some stuff together and just continue to get that work and build that chemistry."

(On if he studied much of Washington Redskins' offense prior to being drafted and if he could project himself into that system)

"I didn't study necessarily that specific offense, but I did study the different kind of offenses that are run in the NFL. There are three main offenses that you can really draw all the way back to these three and there are variations of those offenses now. I loved looking into those and seeing the strengths and weaknesses of each one of them. Being in the offense I'm in now, I am really excited about it. I understand what we are trying to accomplish with it. I think it fits my game well. I am excited about being able to get back out on the field with my guys and being able to go through it."

(On what the process was for him coming out of high school and how he ended up at Eastern Washington)

"Yes, so I walked off the field my senior year, actually, not having a single offer from any school. My biggest interest was with Yale and after my first game – I had a great game – I came off of the field feeling good. the coach that was recruiting me, his dad was actually at the game, so I felt like, 'OK, this is going to be a thing for me. I have a good shot of going here.' That week after that first game, the coach called me and said that they were going a different direction with it. So right in the middle of the season, I lost the only interest that I had, walked off the field with no offers. Then things kind of just happened a few weeks after that where I got an offer from Idaho State and an offer from Eastern Washington. I got to take a trip to both of those places and I really just fell in love with Eastern Washington, the coaches, the players and just the mentality that they had. Every day they were pushing each other to be great. They were striving to be great in everything they were doing and they had a championship mindset and that is something that I wanted to be a part of and something that really appealed to me."

(On what it was like to walk off the field without an offer)

"It was tough. There is no feeling like that. I believed that I could play at the next level, but there is that voice in the back of your head saying, 'Well, right now no one else thinks that you can.' You know? But it didn't change my idea. My thoughts were, 'I know I can do this. I know I can play at the next level.' I was lucky enough to be able to connect with some really good coaches, really good players in college."

(On how proud he is of his journey to get to the NFL)

"You don't have time to really reflect back on things right now. I am full steam ahead. I am looking to the future about the things that are to come and being a part of something special here in LA. I'm excited about what's to come from that. So there's not a whole lot of time for me to really think back and reflect on things that I have done. I will let that be what it is. I am all about the mentality. Whatever you have done before, forget about it, flush it, move forward, whether it is good or bad.' Because you have to go out and earn things every single day and the things that have happened before, you can't allow those things to define you and change you as a person. So, I am going to stay the same me, whether it is good or bad, and continue to be just the person that is going to strive to be great in everything he does."

(On what he expects from himself during training camp and heading into the season)

"Like I've said, my expectation is to come in here and help win games. That is the most important part. The most important statistic is just to be a part of winning games and whatever that role is going to be, I am going to embrace it, I'm going to attack it. Outside of that, I am going to let everyone else's speculations, all of the different hypotheticals, I am just going to control what I can control and strive to be a part of something special here."

(On if he is excited to move back into a dorm)

"Yeah, I had a great dorm experience back in college, so I am really excited. It is a redeeming time for me. I have got it made a little better here."

(On who he is rooming with)

"Sam Rogers. Actually, we were roommates at the Senior Bowl together, too. That's just a little tidbit for you guys."

(On which receivers he follows and models him game after)

"Yeah, there were and I talked on this a lot through the draft process. But there were three of them that really stood out to me and guys that I had studied through college, which were Larry Fitzgerald, Antonio Brown and A.J. Green. All of them are very different, they play the position very differently. Receiver is an art. There is not one way to do it and all of these guys play the position very differently, but being able to draw a little bit into my game from each of those guys was something that I really tried to implement."

(On if he had the grades for Yale)

"(Laughs) I was solid."

Rams Safety John Johnson III – Training Camp Arrivals – June 26, 2017

(On how he spent his summer after minicamp)

"I actually stayed around here. I had a little groin tweak and I was just making sure it was 100 percent for camp, so I was here with (Head Strength and Conditioning) Coach Ted (Rath) and his staff. Now I'm ready to go." 

(On looking forward to training camp)

"I am looking forward to training camp. The pads are finally going on. It's the moment we've all been waiting for."

(On working out with other teammates before camp)

"(S) Cody Davis was here a lot, and he's a safety just like I am. We bonded a little bit. I tried to take note of his professionalism and tried to do everything he did. Cody Davis would be the biggest guy that I was working out with."

(On his reps in the offseason program regarding practice reps at Strong Safety and Free Safety)

"They're pretty much the same thing to me. They both got to do the same type of jobs, so it'll be wide open I think. I am looking forward to playing one, but I'm not picking one. I'm not putting all of my eggs into one basket, so it'll be interesting."

(On adjusting to life on the West Coast)

"Oh, I've mentioned this before, the weather is just, it's beautiful. I heard it doesn't rain. It's probably rained one time and it was just a little sprinkle, so that's the biggest thing. West Coast life is a little different, but I'm ready for it. It's a city. I'm from (Washington) D.C. it's a little different but the city life is for me, so it's all good."

(On Los Angeles traffic)

"Oh the traffic is terrible. It took me three hours to get here."

(On expectations for camp)

"I just want to bond with my teammates, honestly. Grow with them, build chemistry because that's what's going to take us through the season. So, just the chemistry."

(On his ability to pick up the defense in the offseason program)

"It's funny because (Defensive Coordinator (Phillips) – I had no idea that the system would be so similar to my college system. I had (Former Boston College Head Coach) Don Brown, he's at Michigan now. He's like a pro coach, honestly. I think he's set me up for success."

(On being close with his fellow draft class members)

"Absolutely. It's crazy because we don't try to, it just naturally happens. We all have the same goals, we all want to be great. I think it's just surrounding ourselves with guys that want to have the same goals as us. It naturally happens."

(On his thoughts of Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips)

"Oh he's the man and he knows he's the man the way he carries himself, walks around. He's ready to go and he knows he's going to have a top defense this year. He's definitely got swag."

(On if he watched the Amazon series All or Nothing this summer)

"I heard about it and I saw trailers but I haven't seen it. Maybe I should. I should probably get to that. I did see Hard Knocks though."

(On his impressions of the organization after seeing Hard Knocks)

"I loved it. It's very professional. I remember a guy got released for having a girl over or something during this time, so I learned my lesson from there. It was very professional and the guys got after it at practice. It was fun to watch."