It’s rare when Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay openly shares any negative criticism about a player during press conferences. But after Tuesday’s practice, it boiled over for just a moment, and still with a smile on his face. But two words escaped.
“Freaking Bobby,” McVay said as he shook his head
The “Bobby” at the other end of the comment is Bobby Brown, a former 2021 fourth-round defensive lineman entering the final year of his rookie contract. The infraction caused McVay to temporarily break character was removing his pads before the official end of practice. This caused Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic to inquire about Brown’s health. It seemed to catch McVay unawares.
“So Bobby’s quick to take his pads off, I guess. I didn’t know that.”
“You got him in trouble, Jourdan. You got him fined, good job.”
Bobby Brown Falls Short of Los Angeles Rams Model The Way Ethos
It may seem to be a minor infraction, but it certainly falls short of the team’s ethos through training camp, which is “Model the Way.” It also falls well short of the high standard that Aaron Donald set for himself while playing along the defensive line, next to Brown at times. His commitment put accountability at the forefront. This could be best exemplified by a story McVay told Robert Mays of The Athletic Football Show about Donald demanding to be fined when he was 30 seconds late for a meeting because he was, as McVay put it, ‘taking a sh*t.’
Up until that point, Brown was having a fantastic day of training camp. He on several occasions generated pressure on Matthew Stafford and had at least two tackles for loss in the running game.
Brown saw his playing time peak last season, playing in 27.6 percent of defensive snaps. That put him at a distant fourth most snaps along the d-line behind 2020 undrafted free agent, Jonah Williams, who played nearly double the snaps of Brown.
This isn’t the first instance of Brown’s less-than-exemplary behavior. In 2022, he missed the first six games of the season for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. While in college he missed three games after injuring his knee celebrating a sack.
The most telling sign of where Brown stands on the team is his lack of playing time. McVay doles out snaps based on merit and consistency. While it isn’t the final word on Brown, it certainly didn’t instill more confidence that he is becoming a more professional and focused player.
