Rams looking for Lewis to have breakout season
IRVINE » Terrell Lewis welcomed Bobby Wagner to the Rams by constantly praising him for his past accomplishments with the Seattle Seahawks. It was probably flattering at first for Wagner to hear Lewis say that he grew up watching him, but then it got old and that's the last thing an 11-year veteran looking for a fresh start wants – to feel old.
Lewis noticed the slight irritation from Wagner and decided to have fun with it. He pestered Wagner like a diehard “Star Wars” fan would if they got to spend a weekend with Mark Hamill.
Lewis routinely shouted “L.O.B” in Wagner's direction — the acronym for Legion of Boom and the moniker of the Seahawks' dominant defense of the 2010s with Wagner running the show at middle linebacker.
“I used to tease him when he first got here to the point where he's like, `Bro, chill out with that,'” said Lewis, the third-year outside linebacker. “I used to say `L.O.B.' and he would be like, `Man, chill out. That's old, that's old.'”
Lewis, the Rams' 2020 third-round pick, eventually dropped the act because he needed help from the future Hall of Famer. He's also looking for a fresh start and Wagner provided guidance for ways he can take care of his body.
The 6-foot-5, 262-pound Lewis has the skill set to have his own productive career, but he's struggled to stay on the field because of knee injuries. Last summer, Lewis missed camp practices because of the knee, leading to another slow start. But the toughest setback for Lewis was being a healthy scratch for the Rams' entire Super Bowl run.
The Rams hit pause on Lewis' development after they acquired star outside linebacker Von Miller in the middle of the season. But with Miller now in Buffalo, Lewis has an opportunity to establish himself as one of the Rams' top pass rushers.
“It was frustrating,” Lewis said about being inactive for the final nine games of 2021. “I feel like I learned a lot from that whole situation. I feel like that's another reason why I feel like I have that kind of chip on my shoulder every day. Obviously with me, my biggest goal lately has just been I want to play in a Super Bowl. So that kind of bothered me a lot.
“Mentally it took me a while to get over it and say, `Okay, what can you learn from that? What can you gain from the experience of not only just learning from a player like Von, but also learning just the business and how things go about throughout a season.' Sometimes you may just have to be that odd man out depending on situations, but it definitely felt weird. I've never been out of a game other than health. It just felt like, now that I'm healthy, why the hell am I not playing? Once I got over that hump of you can put all the work in that you want to, it's not always going to go your way. But you can always gain something from those situations.”
Outside linebacker Leonard Floyd has noticed Lewis applying what he learned from last season and it helps that he's trusting his knee more with each practice.
“I'd probably say he's been taking care of his body the whole offseason,” Floyd said. “I could tell when he's pass rushing, he's lean, he's dipping and he's real fluid right now. … I could tell he's trusting (the knee) a lot more than he did last year. He's executing some of his best rushes in training camp.”
Lewis has had a productive training camp, but the team remains cautious and decided to play it safe by giving him a rest day on Thursday. They're counting on him to have a breakout third season and to emerge as a productive pass rusher next to Floyd and Justin Hollins.
“We wanted to try to keep (Lewis) as healthy as possible with some of the things he's dealt with early on in his career because when he's right, he's capable of it,” Rams coach Sean McVay said.
Lewis spoke confidently by telling reporters this week that he's capable of becoming an elite outside linebacker in the NFL, but he admitted that it took him some time to stop thinking about the knee and caring about outside opinions.
“I feel like I've gotten to a better head space to the point where I don't let external factors control how I feel,” Lewis said. “I know who I am. I know how my body feels. If you're out here, I'm pretty sure everybody will tell you, `Terrell looks like Terrell.'”
Outside linebacker Terrell Lewis was the Rams' thirdround pick in the 2020 NFL draft out of Alabama.
Camp notes
The Rams had a light “deload” practice, but rookie running back Kyren Williams managed to break a sweat.
McVay said Williams is on track to return later this month and he took another step forward by running sprints on the side while his teammates conducted a walk-through workout.
Williams suffered a foot injury in the offseason program and hasn't participated in camp practice. He was drafted in the fifth round this year out of Notre Dame. …
Aaron Donald mentioned that he's been impressed with the connection between inside linebackers Earnest Jones and Wagner.
“Obviously, he was a playmaker, but adding a guy like Bobby Wagner to up his game and get to learn from him,” Donald said about Jones. “When I'm in there early in the morning in the weight room, I see him and Bobby in there every morning. He's attached to his hip right now, learning everything he can and he's going to continue to grow.”