Read, Darn It: Sean McVay And Los Angeles Rams Use Interesting, Old-School Tactic

Sean McVay is known for being a brilliant offensive mind. As the leader of the Los Angeles Rams, he also sets the culture through speeches and fosters a certain environment by painstakingly placing the correct pieces around him.

Those choices echo and complement his own style. However, leading by example does as much as his words.

While athletes carry the (oftentimes unfair) reputation of lacking an appetite for the written word, the Rams are different. According to a July 2 report by ESPN’s Tim McManus, multiple Los Angeles Rams players and coaching staff members routinely crack open books.

Safety Quentin Lake said that McVay and defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant are “always” referencing quotes from books. Lake claimed the example set by the coaches encouraged him.

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“They always reference a quote from a book. And I think that’s amazing,” Lake said. “That’s what I would want to do when I grow up, too, is just gaining all this information, but giving great, great lessons and quotes from books. I think that’s like a super skill to me.”

Both Lake and cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon revealed their reading choices this summer.

Exploring What Los Angeles Rams Quentin Lake And Ahkello Witherspoon’s Reading List Reveals About Them

Lake’s been working his way through “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Greene. The book, released in 2000, dives into ideas tied to philosophers like Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, Carl Von Clausewitz, and other figures. Every law helps move toward one end goal: total domination.

It lines up well with Lake’s job as a player in the NFL tasked with dominating opposing pass-catchers and helping to shut down opposing defenses as a whole.

By reading the book, Lake appears to be taking the mantra of practicing as he plays to another level, maintaining a certain level of discipline off the field so he can carry it on the field.

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Meanwhile, Witherspoon is working his way through “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr. The novel, which also has a limited series on Netflix, centers around a blind teenage girl in World War II attempting to help the French resistance under the nose of the Germans.

The choice displays an interest in history, and by reading the story, Witherspoon is learning about overcoming obstacles and not using anything as an excuse. It is also an interesting choice to read the book with the series readily available to watch. Witherspoon could have spent a few evenings watching the series and been done with it, but he chose to dive into the novel.

The theme of history continued into another book he mentioned, titled “James” by Percival Everett, which is a retelling of the famous story “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the perspective of Jim.

Both books add something unique to familiar, widely known stories, which shows that not only is Witherspoon interested in history, but he’s also interested in diving deeper than the surface level. If he applies this pattern to his work with the Los Angeles Rams, the team is getting a cornerback who refuses to leave any stone unturned.

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