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10 Observations from OTA No. 10

After each OTA practice, team insider Myles Simmons will share his top 10 observations from the day's session. Here are 10 notes from Day 10 on Thursday, June 6.

1) Punter Johnny Hekker looked like he was in midseason form during the special teams period, booming the ball down the field during the special teams period as L.A. went through punt team drills.

2) Much like earlier this week, Los Angeles' defense got in some early 11-on-11 work against a scout-team offense. It appeared to be a good amount of situational scenarios, like third downs. As that was happening, the starting offensive players were on the other field going through individual drills.

3) One such drill for the offense focused on ball security. During that period, the quarterbacks, tight ends, wide receivers, and running backs who were not on the scout team had to catch a quick pass from a QB, then move around poles and stiff arm a tackling dummy.

4) Also on the offensive side, Los Angeles' quarterbacks worked with tight ends and wideouts on red zone route combinations. Often the club would have a pair of eligible receivers go out for a route, so QBs Jared Goff and Blake Bortles would both throw for any given play. It's a way of making the drills more efficient and maximizing the time.

5) Later, the offense also went through an 11-on-11 period against a scout team. Goff started out the period completing a strike to wide receiver Robert Woods over the middle.

6) In a half-field passing drill, rookie running back Darrell Henderson showed his receiving skills on a completion out of the backfield. Near the right sideline, Henderson extended his arms out to make the catch, and got in two feet before going out of bounds. Henderson's offensive teammates gave him a few laudatory yells as he went back to the huddle.

Check out photos of the Los Angeles Rams participating in OTAs.

7) As the Rams had last year during training camp, the team has a video board up during practice to help review plays through film in real time — much like a viewer at home would from instant replay. On Thursday, one practical application of that came through during 11-on-11 drills with the starters competing from both offense and defense. After an early play in the period, cornerback Marcus Peters and corners coach Aubrey Pleasant were discussing Peters' execution on a play. Pleasant then walked over to see the screen, and complimented Peters on his vision during the play.

8) During that same period, Goff hit tight end Tyler Higbee over the middle with a pass in a third-down scenario. Higbee made a nice move at the line to shake a defender, got open, and made the catch for a first down.

9) On a red-zone play, Goff connected with wide receiver Josh Reynolds toward the back of the end zone over the middle with a strike that Reynolds had to go up and get — which he did for an impressive catch. However, those in the backfield agreed the play would've counted as a defensive sack in a "live" scenario. But to me, that didn't diminish what Reynolds did there.

10) After the end of practice, defensive lineman Morgan Fox did a little extra work on his own — drilling his pass-rushing moves against a dummy. Coming off a season-ending knee injury last year, Fox has done that a lot over the course of OTAs, telling therams.com that it’s all in an effort to sharpen his skills and knock the rust off.

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