Rams LB Drawing Rave Reviews From Training Camp

After the first seven practices, he is the Most Valuable Participant. He has not left any decision to be made as to whether he should start. He is also calling the defensive signals and is acting like he has been there before.

Head coach Sean McVay spoke to the media this week about Landman's play. The excitement was flowing out of his mouth as he described Landman.

“You can hear it, you can feel it,” he said. “He’s one of those guys, he has some natural leadership traits and characteristics. I think you're innately thrust into that when you play an inside linebacker position. He’s just got a good feel. He's got great awareness, a good understanding of how to be able to positively uplift his teammates and challenge them in the right way. I love what this guy is about.”

On Saturday, Landman had the play of the practice He punched the football out of Davis Allen's arms which caused a fumble, recovered by the defense. Landman has become a ball hawk and has forced six fumbles over the last two seasons.

During Tuesday's practice he combined for another great play on a fourth-and-1 where he stopped the ball carrier short of the line of gain. It got McVay's juices flowing.

“You saw there was a great play kind of in a short yardage situation that ‘Kam’ Kinchens did a great job of being able to kind of spill the ball outside and Omar and Landman in unison ended up getting a knock-back tackle on a fourth-and-1,” he said. “He has consistently shown that type of stuff.”

Last season, Quentin Lake was the leader of the defense. He was the dominator. He was the jack of all trades, master of everything. It appears as though Landman is taking over where Lake left off, and that if fine with Lake. He said it takes a load off of him.

“Fantastic player. I almost want to call him ‘Peanut Punch Landman’. He has just a knack for the ball and we see so many clips, Coach McVay shows them in the team meeting room of him doing it in Atlanta and then you see it out here and you understand why he's able to cause those turnovers,” Lake said Tuesday. “He practices the right way, a great communicator, fantastic teammate. Great addition for us and I can't wait to see what he's going to do during the season as well.”