Los Angeles Rams rookie left guard Steve Avila is one of the team's many rookies that have had to acclimate to the NFL faster than most first-years.
The 36th overall pick, and the Rams' first in the 2023 NFL Draft, has started in all seven games at left guard, but he played center at TCU. Avila stated on Rams Revealed that the leap from college to the NFL "wasn't huge," but there's "more steps" to remember.
"I remember in OTA's man, it was a lot," Avila said. "But I've made a lot of progress and that's something you can always be happy about. I feel like I'm getting better every week."
Avila explained that "everybody's going to beat you," but he learned how to "swallow that pill" after the blowout CFP National Championship loss.
"You're not always going to win and you're going to lose sometimes," Avila said. "Sometimes they're good losses, which means the quarterback wasn't sacked, but you still lost the rep. I've learned to not be so hard on myself, especially going against (Rams defensive tackle) Aaron Donald everyday."
An argument could be made that the best way to improve is by going head-to-head with the best-of-the-best during practice. Avila has had that opportunity with Donald, who has won three Defensive Player of the Year awards and has certified himself as an NFL legend.
Avila has been using this mindset every day, but it didn't exactly start out that way.
"Going against Aaron Donald in the first couple days of pads, I was like 'I don't know what to do, this dude is crazy,'" Avila said. "But someone went up to me and said 'dude, that's the one percent of the one percent.' When you think about that, he truly is, as he's one of the best of all-time. It's a learning process and it's definitely going to make me better going against him every day."
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