What I Saw at Rams 2025 Preseason Week One Practice

Puka Nacua may be the Rams ultimate weapon. While his skills as a route runner and pass catcher are well documented, Nacua has taken steps to improve as a run blocker. With Sean McVay's offense requiring receivers to make key blocks, they have two physical players in Nacua and Jordan Whittington, with both men able to open up run lanes by themselves when needed.

Quentin Lake appeared to be in midseason form, making multiple plays on the football. Jaylen McCollough also had a strong day, dominating when playing inside the box. Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula has two versatile weapons that he is able to use at any time.

Xavier Smith continued to show off his hands. The hardest thing for Smith has been to reach out with his arms extended to catch passes but he did just that on Thursday, making massive strides at a blistering pace.

D.J. Humphries received an extended run with the ones on offense, confirming a simple truth. Humphries and McClendon have a neck-and-neck race for the swing tackle position.

Kyren Williams may have a new deal, but he continues to bring his same old mindset of playing football as hard as he can. Williams made plays on the ground but flashed the hands on a downfield pass. Williams' cuts and use of leverage are much better than expected, and he's starting to feel like the dynamic weapon Alvin Kamara and Austin Ekeler have been. It will be interesting to see if he's used differently as a pass catcher since he can clearly read coverages, finding the holes on choice routes (even if the choice route wasn't called).

Konata Mumpfield's ability to throttle down at the proper moment was put on display as both Jimmy Garoppolo and Stetson Bennett were throwing rocket balls that he was managing to haul in.

However, the winner of Thursday had to have been Tyler Higbee. He is the unquestioned TE1 of the Rams, and while I have mentioned this might be Higbee's last season with the Rams and possibly in the NFL, especially due to his injury history, if Higbee can stay healthy and play in games the way he's been performing in practice, I'm not sure 2026 would be his last season.

Obviously, this is premature, but Higbee has been flying, and a healthy Higbee typically means wins.

Jared Verse left practice due to injury. He did not return. His status at this time is unknown.