McVay’s Culture-Building Starts With Strategic Placement of Rams’ Lockers

Puka Nacua spends plenty of time on the grass and in meeting rooms with Davante Adams, Tutu Atwell and Jordan Whittington. He doesn’t get a lot of time to build rapport and camaraderie with Rob Havenstein or Ahkello Witherspoon.

That is, until Sean McVay strategically assigned Nacua between those two players last year in the locker room at the Rams’ Woodland Hills practice facility. Many NFL teams will group players in areas of the locker room according to their position, but not the Rams.

“I know I was next to Big Rob,” Nacua said Wednesday, “and it wasn't my duty to bring Big Rob towels, but I always did. It was just something. Ahkello Witherspoon was somebody I was with as well, somebody who's played a lot of football for different organizations.

“And it’s always fun post-practice to come and be like, ‘Alright, what were you thinking right here when I lined up against you and I doubled up at the line of scrimmage and then you jab this way?’ So, having a DB next to you is something that you don't really imagine in the locker room, but it's also really fun because you have some great conversations.”

During camp at Loyola Marymount, Nacua’s locker is grouped with quarterbacks Matthew Stafford and Jimmy Garoppolo, running back Kyren Williams and defensive end Braden Fiske. Last year at the team facility, Fiske was next to Cooper Kupp. McVay said it’s part of turning a group of individuals into a team.

“We've got a bunch of individual pieces that have shown they're really capable football players,” the head coach said Wednesday, “but it's the greatest team sport there is. Let's come together as a team.”

McVay reeled off several examples. He said he wants players to appreciate the importance of the rapport between the three interior offensive linemen, Coleman Shelton, Steve Availa and Kevin Dotson, and the chemistry between the quarterbacks and receivers. On the other side of the ball, he mentioned Jared Verse, Byron Young, Nate Landman and others.

“Fiske and Verse rushing together,” McVay said. “B.Y. and Poona Ford being able to learn how to play together, or Kobie Turner, Landman communicating on the back seven. So, all those things are just so vital. I love the way that our coaches are so connected and able to be able to communicate.

“And then be able to listen, to understand so that we can connect with these guys and understand how to put them in the right spots. But it's absolutely a vital part, and if we're able to do that, I think a lot of good things have a chance to follow.”

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