Sean McVay Reveals How the Rams Have Revitalized Players' Careers

Kam Curl, Kevin Dotson, Emmanuel Forbes, Ahkello Witherspoon, and Demarcus Robinson make up a few of the recent examples, leading many to wonder what it is about the way the Rams do things that leads to such positive results.

On Tuesday, Sean McVay spoke about how the Rams embrace players and their approach to rebuilding confidence.

“That's a really good question. I think all organizations would hope to be able to create an atmosphere and environment that's conducive for them reaching and realizing their highest potential. I think the first thing I would say, you got to ask the right questions, understand where they're coming from. I think so often as coaches, and we talk about it all the time, you feel a responsibility to correct, so alright, well what is that ratio? How often are you calling guys up for what they're doing right? How often are we cognizant of, hey, we're going to be demanding but we're never demeaning or disrespectful."

"And what does it look like to create and to cultivate an atmosphere and environment that does build people up while being challenging and understanding that a lot of these things are skills that you can lean into. Inevitably in some timeframe, you're going to go through a storm. We talk about it a lot. Hey, you're either in it, you're going to go back into it or you're just coming out of it and it's usually one of those three things. The separator is how you're able to handle that. But the best part about football is we're all in this together and it's the greatest team sport that there is. I think it's all about meeting people where they are and then trying to authentically build them back up while knowing that there's inevitably a lot of hard things that we're doing. Like talking over Matthew, ripping the ball against the wall right now (laughs).”

Wow. Imagine that. McVay's entire philosophy revolves around the revolutionary concept of treating players with respect. As simple as it seems, that's not always the case in the NFL.

The environment McVay creates in welcoming, it's fun, it takes players back to when playing football was a joy, not a job. That's what Davante Adams stated.

"This game is supposed to be a kid's game and us just having a good time, a fun time out there together. For it to kind of feel like Pop Warner, high school, college ball all over again, that’s exactly what this team feels like in the best way possible. It feels like a college-type of camaraderie. I don't think I've seen a linebacker and a punter talking as much as I have since I've been here, or the kicker and quarterbacks, or whoever it is. There's just so much crossover. Even within myself, I found that it took a little more time for me to get integrated into the Jets team than it did getting here. I knew a lot more of the guys on this team even. So it kind of just depends, and a lot of that probably had to do with me going halfway through the season. It wasn’t this time of year where we had as much time together to be away from ball as well. It’s always going to be different, but I feel like this is what I needed just based off the vibe and the aura of the building. Everybody's in a good mood. It's not like a dark cloud over the building, and I've experienced that quite a bit over the last few years. So it's a glaring difference when you come into a building like this."

The secret is in its simplicity. Take talented individuals, provide them with the coaching they lacked, the environment they need, and then sit back and watch them grow.

Also, for context of McVay's joke about Stafford, Stafford was warming up by throwing a ball against the wall behind where the press conference was taking place, and since it's a somewhat enclosed environment, the echo was quite loud.

McVay and Stafford shared a hilarious back and forth before Stafford wrapped up and went to the practice field.