Rams RBs coach Ra’Shaad Samples is the youngest position coach in the NFL. His goal: Create lanes
Since 2015, Samples has climbed the coaching ladder from college receiver to college assistant coach to position coach for the defending Super Bowl champions.
Jori EpsteinIRVINE, Calif.— Ra’Shaad Samples hoped the sauna would clear his mind.
Instead, the Los Angeles Rams running backs coach encountered the source of his frustration: Bobby Wagner.
Wagner, the eight-time Pro Bowl linebacker, had been “beating the dog out of” Samples’ running backs in one-on-one pass protection drills at training camp. Samples yearned to understand.
“I’m a big fan of going to ask the person who whooped your (expletive): ‘How did you whoop my (expletive)?’” Samples told USA TODAY Sports. “I rage for answers.”
Forty-five minutes of scheme and steam later, Samples could explain: Wagner saw young Rams backs shifting weight to an inside foot before the snap. The 11th-year defender jabbed toward that center of gravity to shake them loose, then sought to beat them inside on some snaps and around the edge others. Physicality was not enough to triumph – player and coach alike must seek out every mental edge.
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