Rams
Following the news that the Rams are looking for a new destination for WR Cooper Kupp, WR Puka Nacua expressed his gratitude towards Kupp for setting an example of how to handle himself in the league on the field and off.
“I feel like I’ve been spoiled, I’ve been blessed to be able to have Cooper Kupp be my mentor,” Nacua said, via the Up & Adams Show. “To be able to follow him and to be able to watch him interact with everybody in our facility, being the leader and the team captain, and then to watch him be a dad and be a husband in the offseason and that time we got to spend together. And the basketball player that he is, to be able to compete against him at the same time. But then to watch him work in-season and how detailed he is and everything he does to take care of his body and to communicate with Matthew to be on the same page, it’s been a huge blessing and I frickin’ love that guy.”
Rams
Rams HC Sean McVay preached having more versatility after being asked what caused the offense to fail this year.
“The easy answer is to complain about the injuries that we had that threw off the continuity, and while that might be true, you can’t allow that to inhibit us the way that it did,” McVay said, via ESPN. “That’s nobody’s responsibility but my own. I think more fully functional. I think even our teaching progressions for the totality of the group. How do you utilize the offseason and how are you making yourself more versatile from a personnel perspective or from a run variety perspective? Those are the things that I’m excited to be able to dive into.”
Seahawks
Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald hopes to be heavily involved in the team’s upcoming draft and wants a say in personnel decisions.
“I want to be involved in the process of deciding who’s going to be on our team,” Macdonald said, via the team’s website. “Who we bring in is really important in building the culture that we want and the team that we want, and you want to take advantage of every opportunity you have to make the best decisions for us. I just want to be a part of it.”
Macdonald added that seeing prospects in person can help paint a full picture of things that don’t show up on tape which gives them an extra edge.
“That’s the driving force of why we’re down here,” Macdonald said. “You talk about chasing edges. That little margin of, yeah, I can watch it on tape, but how do I feel guys in person? It’s different. It’s like being at practice and feeling players at practice vs. watching them execute on tape. It’s a similar relationship. Just watching one on ones, seeing how they handle it if they lose a rep, or when they win a rep, and watching them talk to teammates. There’s just little things you can pick up here and there. You’re trying to just feel them. Just feel who they are without them always being on their best behavior when they’re in a meeting or something. Just trying to get that extra angle of understanding what the type of player they are and what type of person they are. It’s been cool, it’s been a fun experience.”
Macdonald said he loves this part of the cycle where he’s able to continue to build the team and hopefully identify the next player that becomes the staple for their franchise.
“I love this part of the season, because you’re building your team,” he said. “Off the field, with our coaching staff, having a new offensive coordinator, just building all the systems out, building out how we want to attack the offseason, how we want to get our team to the next level, this is when you do it. So you’ve got to be really aggressive in your approach, and it’s exciting. You maybe think outside the box on certain things, and try to build the best off-the-field team we can have, then obviously the personnel side is huge. Those are the guys that drive our team, and hopefully we’re finding the next 10, 15-year vet that’s going to be a Seahawk for life. That’s exciting.”
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