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The St. Louis Rams have two starters over the age of 30, and that's it. Both of those players, center Scott Wells and guard Harvey Dahl, gave observers a little bit of a surprise on Thursday when they took the field with the rest of the team at OTAs.
Dahl and Wells were iffy for spring practices. Dahl is recovering from a torn biceps. Wells had surgery on his knee, for the second time, when the 2012 season ended. GM Les Snead made it clear at this year's scouting Combine that neither player really had to be on the field for OTAs, not two well-traveled veterans who the know the game and their place in it inside and out. But here they are, taking reps with the Rams starting offense.
Newly acquired left tackle Jake Long was on the field as well, not far removed from a torn triceps.
It is just OTAs, but every rep the Rams offensive line gets them one step closer to the fortified unit the team is counting on as the foundation for an improved offense.
Not on the field Thursday was tight end Lance Kendricks (knee scope) and safety Darian Stewart (calf).
Fisher and others shared some of their offseason enthusiasm following Thursday's practice, the first session of the week open to the media.
We'll have more on OTAs later, but here are some tidbits to fight off starvation:
"It's definitely going to be a different offense ... We have significantly more speed this year." - Bradford #RamsOTAs
— St. Louis Rams (@STLouisRams) June 6, 2013
"A lot of it is just timing. Everyone has different steps, different speeds." - Bradford on adjusting to new receivers
— St. Louis Rams (@STLouisRams) June 6, 2013
"He's good. He's been great so far." - Bradford on Jared Cook #RamsOTAs
— St. Louis Rams (@STLouisRams) June 6, 2013
"He can add a dimension to our offense we didn't have." - Fisher on Jared Cook #RamsOTAs
— St. Louis Rams (@STLouisRams) June 6, 2013
"From ball skills to instincts to gap skills to coverage and rushing, he's off to a strong start." - Fisher on Alec Ogletree #RamsOTA
— St. Louis Rams (@STLouisRams) June 6, 2013
"It's come a long way since 2-3 weeks ago since we first started with the rookies." - Sam Bradford #RamsOTAs twitter.com/STLouisRams/st…
— St. Louis Rams (@STLouisRams) June 6, 2013