LOS ANGELES — Shortly after Davante Adams signed with the Rams, after he returned from a Japanese vacation during which Sean McVay recruited the free agent relentlessly with videos, text messages and phone calls, the All-Pro receiver and his new head coach went to dinner at Bird Streets, a West Hollywood lounge and supper club.
The meal was meant to celebrate their new union, one for which McVay had started planting the seeds years earlier during a chance meeting at the Kentucky Derby. But here they were, getting to know each other and, of course, talking football.
But sometimes, words just aren’t enough. And when the subject of line-of-scrimmage release – one of the skills that has elevated Adams through his 12-year career – came up, Adams stood up next to the table to illustrate his techniques.
“There wasn’t a bunch of attention because Sean’s a very elite individual. There’re different types of rooms and memberships you need for some of these places where he goes to eat,” Adams joked Wednesday. “Basically, making some of these plays come to life before I even had the opportunity to run some of the routes. It was fun. A good meal. It was just good fellowship.”
As the Rams (9-2) look to extend their winning streak to seven Sunday against the Carolina Panthers (6-6), Adams has proven the perfect addition to allow McVay to create the versatile offense he set out to last winter.
In the last five games, the Rams have averaged 33.2 points per game. In those five games, the Rams have greatly increased their use of 13-personnel – three-tight end sets – while Adams has scored nine of his NFL-leading 12 touchdowns.
Those two occurrences have not been a coincidence.
With the heavy personnel lined up tight, the Rams are inviting opponents to load up the box to defend against the run. That can leave the one receiver on the field – frequently Adams, in the Rams’ case – with one-on-one matchups.
And when you have one of the world’s premier man-to-man beaters, that allows a play-caller like McVay to draw up a lot of options for Adams at the goal line. Eight of Adams’ touchdowns in the last five games have come inside opponents’ 5-yard line.
But as McVay is too happy to admit, he can only draw up plays; it’s players like Adams who bring them to life.
“He makes it right,” McVay said. “Since I’ve been coaching, there’s nobody that’s been better about being able to get parallel and work edges on people. That’s a special trait. … To have the physical but also the above-the-neck understanding, there’s an art to it when you hear him articulate it.”
And even as defenses have started to shade a safety over to provide help on Adams along the goal line, he is still finding ways to get open with feints either direction before running a slant or fade route with deadly precision.
The moves aren’t improvised; they are the result of hours of study and hypotheticals that he runs through, imagining what opposing corners are expecting him to do and creating what he describes as unconventional approaches to his breaks.
“When everything is going full speed, it’s easy to rush movements because the idea of a receiver is deception,” Adams explained. “If I go out there and do this, you don’t know if I was really trying to go inside or outside. If I lean inside, now your brain, because it takes the brain time to process what’s going on too. The quicker you move, it can benefit you, but it can also hurt you if you don’t lock in on the details of the route and sell what you’re trying to sell.”
The results have been just what the Rams needed after last season. They were 25th in red-zone efficiency in 2024. This season, they score touchdowns on 65.96% of red-zone trips, sixth in the NFL.
But in the first six games of the season, the Rams were 13 for 26 in the red zone. In the last five? A cool 18 for 21.
That was what the Rams hoped for when they signed Adams during the offseason, and what he previewed for McVay in that supper club without a second thought for who might see him hopping up from the table.
“I didn’t even look around. It was just like, as soon as I thought about it, I bounced up and talked about something,” Adams said. “All of the routes and the things that make up great receivers, I just get fully immersed in it.”
RAMS (9-2) at CAROLINA PANTHERS (6-6)
When: 10 a.m. PT Sunday
Where: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, N.C.
TV/Radio: FOX (Ch. 11)/710 AM; 93.1 FM; 1330 AM (Spanish); Sirius 228, 382