LOS ANGELES — With players arriving to Rams Training Camp presented by CommunityAmerica Credit Union at LMU, the excitement and anticipation for the 2026 season is reaching an apex. The expectations outside the Rams' facility heading into the 2026 season are sky high with the addition of players like defensive lineman Myles Garrett and cornerback Trent McDuffie, and the retention of many key pieces from a season ago.
On training camp arrival day, head coach Sean McVay, cornerback Jaylen Watson, defensive lineman Braden Fiske, wide receiver Davante Adams and offensive lineman Steve Avila spoke with the media about their own excitement and expectations heading into the new season. A big theme for Los Angeles: keeping up the excitement, but managing expectations.
"The last time I checked, none of that stuff means anything. It's what's great about the league. People care. There's a lot of attention, but this is the greatest team sport there is. We got to come together as a team. We got to stay humble. There's a lot of stuff in the midst of the journey that we don't control, but I think our ability to be connected, to be courageous, to handle the storms when they do come up, and be inside out more than ever before is going to be really important." - McVay
The players and coaches in the Rams' locker room aren't oblivious to the external expectations that have been thrusted onto the team going into training camp, but they've found a way to regulate the mental impact of all the noise.
Crucial pieces of the team have experience with what it takes to win it all. Whether it be players that were on the Rams' Super Bowl LVI winning team at the end of the 2021 season, or newcomers holding up the Lombardi Trophy with another program, there are players and coaches alike that know what it takes to win. "We got a lot of veteran guys who've been in these positions where they been on teams where they start the year and people go, 'Hey, this looks like the best team we've ever seen.' But at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. You can be the best, but you got to play like it," Davante Adams said.
Two newcomers that have had those high expectations going into the season and come out on top are cornerback duo Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson. As the Chiefs won Super Bowl LVII and LVIII, immediately following Los Angeles' championship, McDuffie and Watson experienced those expectations lived out to reality.
"We know the potential the team has, but we have to maximize it and that starts today, taking it one day at a time, laying brick by brick and seeing what our full potential can be. ... Expectations are all the same. All 32 teams have the same goal, and that's holding the Lombardi Trophy up at the end of the year." - Watson
Rather than letting the outside influence the expectations, the Rams are looking from within, knowing that they have the pieces to accomplish the goals they aspire to and it just comes down to execution.
"With type of team we have, we don't need any type of outside influences to give us the juice or the confidence that we need to play well this year. At the end of the day, the way people feel about us as a team, preseason or even throughout the season, has no bearing on what we do and how it turns out for us," Adams said.
After gaining a few years of experience in the league, Braden Fiske and Steve Avila each took the offseason to reevaluate how their own ambitions and contributions can impact winning.
Fiske acknowledged that in the first few years of his career, he placed too much emphasis on personal goals, and is looking to adjust his approach to taking things more day-by-day. "It's kind of cliche, I get that, but I've done a lot of self-improvement over the last year of just what's important in you know my life, my career, and you know just getting better every day is what is the main goal for me," Fiske said. "Last year wasn't my best statistical year, but you know I feel great going into the season, so I just want to get better and I wanna go win." Despite playing every game, Fiske battled various injuries last season and took the offseason as that much needed physical and mental reset.
For Avila, the offseason heading into Year 4 was similarly about personal reflection, and the area for growth that were taken in past years and heading into this year. "I look back and be like, 'Man, I've learned a lot of stuff.' It's just so encouraging to you because every year it's always been something. So I'm excited for myself to see what I can add on this year," Avila said.
With new and old pieces creating the high expectations for the Rams this season, McVay, the rest of the coaching staff and the players are focused on keeping the external factors out and focusing on what matters most, proving those expectations right on the field.
"We're not going to allow the outside expectations to change the way that we approach every day, with the way that we work, the way that we enjoy it, have the appropriate mindset and energy, and and that's something that I think is really important for us to represent," McVay said.
