The Bird Streets Club in West Hollywood is a private, members-only enclave that attracts a celebrity clientele.
It’s not the kind of place you’d expect an NFL coach to request a dinner tutorial from a future Hall of Fame receiver on the finer points of his release technique.
Yet that’s where last spring Davante Adams demonstrated for Sean McVay some of the moves that will eventually land the 12-year veteran in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“We didn’t get too many looks,” McVay recalled. “I think people were like, ‘That’s some cool [stuff] right there.’”
Adams joked that McVay’s “elite” status and the coach’s access to the club put them in a situation where there was not a lot of attention. So the two “football meatheads or football nerds” who “think about the game in a very intricate way” could engage in shop talk.
“Basically,” Adams said, it was “making some of these plays come to life before I even had the opportunity to run some of the routes.”
Eleven games into his first season with the Rams, Adams has been larger than life for opposing defensive coordinators.
The three-time All-Pro has 48 catches for 631 yards and a league-leading 12 touchdowns for a Rams team that is 9-2 heading into Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
With six games left, Adams is six touchdowns shy of the career-best 18 he made for the Green Bay Packers in 2020, when he was teaming with four-time NFL most valuable player Aaron Rodgers.
Adams is helping Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford enjoy an MVP-caliber season. Nearly half of Stafford’s league-leading 30 touchdown passes have gone to Adams, frequently from inside the five-yard line.
The two veterans have honed their timing during practices and conversations.
“We’re just trying to find little edges in a game if we can to be better and to help us succeed,” Stafford said.
Adams, 32, has been regarded as one of the NFL’s elite separators ever since he was selected by the Packers in the second round of 2014 draft out of Fresno State.
Former Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald greets receiver Davante Adams before the game against the Buccanners last weekend.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
The formula for his release off the line of scrimmage?
“It’s not like an algorithm or anything,” he said, chuckling.
Adams studies video of opponents and factors in body type, experience, skill set and tendencies among other traits. Walk-throughs before practices, he said, are essential to help go through the steps that will enable him to deceive defenders at full speed during games.
“When we’re going half-speed, it allows me to slow down, really stick and then let the guy see what I’m trying to get him to see versus me just knowing it,” he said, adding, “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.”
Games become chess matches with cornerbacks.
“It’s just a big cerebral game out there,” he said. “A lot of people don’t hone in on it like I do. I find that gives me a big edge.”
Fellow receiver Puka Nacua has noticed.
“He’s playing that chess game the entire game,” Nacua said.
So Adams welcomed the opportunity to share some of his techniques and thoughts with McVay, even in a supper club.
“All of the routes and the things that make up great receivers, I just get fully immersed in it,” Adams said, adding, “It wasn’t nothing crazy. … It wasn’t a big show.”
But McVay, Adams, Stafford and the Rams offense have made it one.
“It’s pretty cool,” McVay said, “to see it come to life in a Rams uniform.”
This story originally appeared on LA Times
