Four Rams newcomers took different paths, but all ended up as major contributors

Every day at Rams practice, outside linebacker Leonard Floyd goes through the same routine.

Between the stretching period and live team drills, as some players work through special-teams reps, outside linebackers coach Chris Shula pulls a pair of long, thin pencil-pads over his arms, and squares up against Floyd. Over and over and over, Floyd practices his pass-rush technique against Shula, from swim moves to footwork to hand work. At times, defensive coordinator Brandon Staley, who pushed the Rams’ front office to sign Floyd to his one-year, $10 million deal last spring, stands quietly to the side and watches.

Floyd doesn’t say much during these extra sessions; he just goes about his business, sometimes with feedback from Shula, sometimes from Staley.

“Part of (Floyd’s) charm is how simple he is,” Staley said. “He’s just a wonderful player. A great guy. Guys like being around him. He plays with great spirit, great energy, loves to practice, loves to play and he loves to say very few words.”

For Floyd, actions have meant more. He came to Los Angeles with a “bust” label from fans and analysts of his former team, the Chicago Bears, and was met with skepticism from many in the Rams’ fan base, but he has spent the last eight months putting all of that doubt far behind him. A 2016 first-round draft pick, Floyd had seven sacks in his rookie season but didn’t total more than 4.5 in any of his next three seasons.

Staley and the Rams believed that a fresh start, a different scheme and a teammate on the defensive line in Aaron Donald, who often occupies multiple blockers, would help Floyd realize his potential.

Floyd finished the 2020 regular season with 10.5 sacks and an extra $1.5 million, due to an escalator clause in his contract, then notched two more sacks against Russell Wilson (who he sacked seven times in three matchups with Seattle this season) in the Rams’ wild-card win on Saturday. Floyd’s savvy as an overall edge defender, his rush ability and his physical steadiness against the run has been evident all season, and all of it was on display at once on Saturday, when he played one of his best games of the year.

Real footage of defender successfully defending a Russell Wilson pump fake pic.twitter.com/1AoqV1Ir98

— Ted Nguyen (@FB_FilmAnalysis) January 11, 2021

The Rams would like to re-sign Floyd, especially if Staley stays in his current role, but it will be hard to find the funds, given the Rams’ current cap limitations and the fact that the cap is set to drop next season. If Staley leaves for a head coaching job, Floyd is a likely match to go with him.

In September, Floyd said he would take every day ahead of him “one step at a time.”

“I’ve been very close to making that play, or extra play for the team,” Floyd said, referring to his time in Chicago. “It’s just as simple as that. I’ve been close, and I feel like here in L.A., I want to get there.”

Last week, head coach Sean McVay agreed that it could be argued that Floyd has been the Rams’ best new player.

“Leonard Floyd has been a big-time player for us and you could certainly make that case,” he said. “What I know is he’s been a great player for us. He’s definitely led the way on the edge, (and) it sets the tone for that outside linebacker group every single day, with the way he goes about his business.”

But Floyd is not the only Rams newcomer who has had a huge impact in his first season with the team. Defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson, running back Cam Akers and kicker Matt Gay — all first-year additions via the draft or free agency — have left their marks as well.

Each has had a different journey, but as the Rams prepare for Saturday’s divisional round game against Green Bay, each has found his way.

Defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson began practicing with the Rams in late October, and during that entire week, he couldn’t stop smiling, even when in drills and physical pad work.

“It feels great to be out there with the guys,” he said at the time. “I saw everyone, and everyone was excited and ready to get after it. … It’s a real brotherhood here. It’s very different from where I’ve been. Being here is where I want to be, and I’m excited that I’m here and glad that I get a chance to be back out there with those guys.”

Robinson, who was drafted by Detroit and played there the last four seasons, was signed to a two-year, $17 million deal last spring when the Rams believed they would lose veteran defensive lineman Michael Brockers in free agency to the Ravens. Brockers’ deal with Baltimore fell through and he re-signed with Los Angeles, and the team planned for Brockers and Robinson to complement star defensive lineman Aaron Donald.

But Robinson and the Rams became aware of a cardiovascular/respiratory issue during the team’s routine physicals as training camp began, and Robinson mulled opting out of the season as a player in the “high-risk COVID-19” category. That option, offered by the league, would have given Robinson a stipend of $350,000. Robinson had already received his signing bonus but would have forgone a much larger salary. The Rams did not want to cut him, not only because that would incur substantial dead-cap money, but also because they were optimistic that he could return to the field in 2020 and beyond.

So, Tony Pastoors, the Rams’ vice president of football and business administration, met with Robinson’s agent, Sean Kiernan, with an unprecedented (but league-legal) proposition: The Rams would “simulate” the economics of an opt-out for Robinson for the first half of the season as they worked with him to heal his condition.

According to a source with knowledge of the contract’s construction, the idea was that Robinson would go on the Rams’ non-football injury list and receive a $500,000 base salary (more than the league’s proposed opt-out stipend), with an escalator of up to $1 million should he decide to return to play and get cleared by team physicians. Robinson also could opt out at any time during the season, instead of before the league’s August deadline, if he felt more comfortable doing so. If he chose to return, Robinson would be eligible for playoff incentives and game checks. He also would be able to stay close to teammates, whereas an NFL-sanctioned opt-out would keep him away from team facilities until the spring.

Meanwhile, his “real” contract — the original deal he signed — would not begin until 2021, which technically meant adding an extra year to it. Robinson’s cap number for next season is approximately $3 million, which also is beneficial to the Rams considering their cap limitations and the hit the league is preparing to take financially.

Robinson decided to accept the Rams’ offer, and worked his way back while on the NFI list during the first eight weeks of the season.

A’Shawn Robinson played in eight regular-season games after his return from the non-football injury list. (Robert Hanashiro / USA Today)

“He got some juice for him,” Donald said after Robinson’s first game with the Rams, on Nov. 15 vs. Seattle. “He’s excited. He plays physical, so, that’s our mindset, definitely in our group, the D-line group. So, (adding him to) the puzzle, that’s going to just make us that much better.”

Robinson needed a couple of games to work back to his full form. In the Rams’ Week 17 win against Arizona, he made his presence felt with a blocked field goal and a drawn holding call that earned the Rams a safety. Last week in Seattle, Robinson truly showed what a valuable addition he is to the Rams’ defensive line when Donald had to leave the game with a ribs injury.

“Not easy to go through what he has had to go through,” Staley said of Robinson. “I think that he’s been trying so hard to catch up. I’m just so proud of him, because it’s such a difficult thing for a player to do what he’s had to do. He’s really given us a nice lift from a depth perspective. He’s made some big plays for us and we’re glad that we have him.”

It’s almost hard to recall, now, that at one point this season the Rams were running out of options at kicker.

Rookie Samuel Sloman, drafted in the seventh round, had been waived in late October and his replacement, Kai Forbath, had just badly injured his ankle.

So punter Johnny Hekker and long snapper Jake McQuaide went on a fact-finding, film-watching mission that led them to Matt Gay, who joined the team in Week 11 and figures to be a fixture on special teams for the foreseeable future.

The Rams already had been on a journey. Sloman narrowly won a training-camp kicking competition over Austin MacGinnis and Lirim Hajrullahu, but Sloman’s low-trajectory kicks and kickoffs, plus missed extra points, caused enough concern to merit bringing in more competition. So the Rams signed Forbath off Dallas’ practice squad on Oct. 20 to put some pressure on Sloman, whom they opted to give one more chance in that week’s game.

During that game vs. Chicago, Forbath watched from the sideline as Sloman had a 48-yard field goal blocked. Forbath knew it would be his turn. Sloman was released the next day, and the Rams did not sign him to their practice squad (he later signed with Tennessee).

In two games for the Rams, Forbath made two field goals (both under 29 yards), had five returnable kickoffs in nine attempts, injured his ankle on a kickoff against Seattle and then badly missed a 48-yard field goal attempt. He was placed on injured reserve on Nov. 16 and the Rams essentially were back to the beginning of the process. With a full NFC West slate ahead of them, there was hardly room for any error.

Enter Hekker and McQuaide.

Hekker recalled watching then-rookie Gay warm up before the Rams’ 2019 matchup against Tampa Bay, and shared praise with McVay via text as McQuaide buried himself in Gay’s game film to confirm their scouting.

“Just watching him warm up, he’s a guy that had leg talent pretty comparable to (former longtime Rams kicker) Greg (Zuerlein),” Hekker said last month, “and that’s pretty rare. So we just thought it would be a great deal.”

Gay missed his first field-goal attempt on Nov. 23, which happened to be against Tampa Bay, and another one two weeks later vs. Arizona, but he has not missed a field-goal or extra-point attempt since, and has totaled 45 points since his last missed kick. He has made 17 of 19 field-goal attempts and all 16 of his extra-point accuracy.

Matt Gay has become a reliable kicker after being signed off Indianapolis’ practice squad. (Joe Nicholson / USA Today)

Gay signed a two-year deal for close to the league minimum. Not bad, after all of that fuss.

“Whew, I’ll tell you what, (having him) has been huge,” said McVay with a laugh this week. “He’s ‘Mr. Automatic’ as of late. I’ve been really impressed with the continuity of him, Johnny and Jake. Think that’s something that you don’t take for granted — and it looks like we’ve found our guy for a long time, really, for the future.”

“Cam Akers is a stud.”

McVay was almost vibrating with energy as he praised the rookie running back after last week’s win at Seattle, in which Akers rushed for 131 yards and had 44 receiving yards, just three weeks after suffering a high ankle sprain in a loss to the New York Jets.

Aker’s range of abilities, from his hard-nosed, elusive-when-necessary running to his sureness in route-running in the passing game, was on full display. He took a short catch-and-run play for 40 extra yards after quarterback Jared Goff dumped off the ball to him on a 4-yard pass, and earlier, Akers scored the Rams’ first offensive touchdown in two weeks on a 5-yard carry.

“You see what a great athlete Cam is. He’s tough,” McVay said. “I thought he was really getting into a rhythm early on in the game. … He’s a special player. He’s really tough.”

Akers totaled 625 yards in 13 regular-season games (including five starts), with the majority coming in the latter part of the season as his carries increased. His emergence as the Rams’ lead back was slower than some expected after the team drafted him in the second round. Initially, the plan was for a three-back committee of Akers, second-year running back Darrell Henderson and veteran Malcolm Brown. But even that was slow-going because of injuries and overall inconsistency in the offense.

Without a regular offseason to work into his first NFL offense, Akers began the season as the No. 2 back behind Henderson. Akers then missed a few weeks because he separated rib cartilage after he landed on the end of the football, then got landed on by a couple of defensive linemen, in the Rams’ Week 2 win against Philadelphia.

Henderson continued to get the lead share of snaps, even as the Rams tried to keep up some form of a “committee” until the Week 13 win against Arizona, in which Akers got 21 carries, then his season high. That week, in a Thursday night game against New England, Akers exploded into lead-back status with 171 rushing yards. In every game since — except Week 16 against Seattle, which Akers missed due to his ankle — Akers has gotten the start. Henderson went on injured reserve after Week 16 because of a high ankle sprain, and the Rams have all but abandoned the committee approach, although Brown still gets carries in short-yardage or clock-rundown situations.

In Akers’ last five games, including the postseason, he is averaging 94.2 rushing yards per game.

“It’s just a blessing to be able to be in this position,” he said this week, “to be able to play with these guys, this team, and to go try to win a playoff game and get to the next step.”

Cam Akers had 176 yards from scrimmage last week against Seattle. (Joe Nicholson / USA Today)

Teammates see that the future is bright for the young running back, and they especially admire his growth after watching him battle through injury and the rookie learning curve. When training camp opens before Akers’ second season, he likely will take the No. 1 running back spot full-time.

“You’re watching a guy grow up and learn how to play NFL football,” veteran left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. “(Akers is a) guy who has all the ability, all the talent, and most importantly, the right stuff in his chest. He’s made of the right junk.

“His heart, his passion for the game is special.”

(Top photo of Leonard Floyd: Maxx Wolfson / Getty Images)