The Rams put on the pads for the first time Monday in a morning special teams workout that was not open to the public.
“It's always good to put the pads on again; hitting each other, that's football,'' special-teams leader and back-up linebacker Daren Bates said.
The highlight of the spirited workout came at the end of the session when players battled one-on-one in a gunner drill in which one player tries to keep another from getting to a tackling dummy. The drill produced plenty of competition to go along with a bit of trash-talking.
“It's definitely fun to watch, seeing those guys going at it as hard as they do,'' punter Johnny Hekker said.