LOS ANGELES – When wide receiver Davante Adams walked into the Rams' facility for the first time and laid eyes on head coach Sean McVay, he breathed a sigh of relief. After admiring each other from afar for many years, they would finally get to go to battle together.
Adams said they've built a "natural connection" that started when McVay was calling him in Japan this summer to recruit him to L.A. During the first week of Rams Training Camp presented by UNIFY Financial Credit Union, they could often be spotted chatting before practice or on the sidelines.
"I value it every time (we talk)," Adams said. "I mean, it may seem organic, but sometimes I seek it. I'll see him over there and I'll go walk over and I just know he gonna say something either funny or something that we can all grow from. He's just that type of person."
Just as McVay has left an imprint on Adams, the All-Pro wide receiver has done the same for his position group. Adams said the transition to Los Angeles has been "smooth" and they've built "a good foundation" during the offseason. He's even picked up a few things from the younger players.
"I've really been enjoying the way the mastermind (McVay) has been able to kind of conduct some stuff over there," Adams said in reference to the Rams' offseason program. "Well, the masterminds, there's a lot of people involved, but it's just been fun, and like I said, the best part for me is just getting to know the guys and hanging out with them every day."
One of those guys is fellow star Puka Nacua, who insisted that Adams lead position group drills during training camp so that he could see how the All-Pro approaches each rep.
"I laughed at it first because he was saying it almost like he'd been wanting to say it for a long time, but he didn't really know how to say that," Adams said.
But he recognized Nacua's offer not only as a show of respect towards Adams, but as a way of helping his own progression. Adams said they talk through a lot of technique, so it's easier for Nacua to watch Adams' reps before he does it himself, as opposed to straining his neck to look back at Adams after just running a route.
The best questions he's gotten from fellow wide outs have revolved around how he dissects coverages, as he so often wins on choice routes. Adams tries to simplify the answers as much as possible so that they, like him, can know what the defense is running and use that against them.
Adams isn't "a walking wise-man" who drops nuggets of wisdom at every turn, he explained with a smile, but whenever something comes up, whether it's in the meeting room or on the field, he chips in advice about how to get open or execute certain rotes.
"Me having seen a lot of doubles and different brackets and different things, I've had to look at coverage differently than other people and kind of take a deeper dive," Adams said. "That part is actually some of the most enjoyable part of this thing for me, the cerebral game."
Every day, things come up that someone in the Rams receiver room wants advice on, and Adams is happy to oblige. But the veteran also takes things from his younger teammates. It's not that he's discovering techniques he's never seen before, but Adams said "the wheel's always being reinvented," so when something works, he takes note of it.
He mentioned rookie wide receiver Konata Mumpfield as someone who's ran good routes and changed his pace advantageously. Adams feels like "a proud dad" watching Mumpfield work through his failures and then succeed after talking things through.
As Adams said earlier this offseason, the lack of a "dark cloud" hanging over his new facility is refreshing. All the good things he heard about McVay and the Rams' culture have materialized, and that's been a pleasant surprise.
"Everything that glitter ain't gold, but this is looking pretty golden over here," Adams said.
