Rams' Jaylen McCollough embodies violently setting the tone

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LOS ANGELES -- Before he was old enough to sign up for football, Jaylen McCollough would try to play the sport in his house.

Big even as a toddler, he didn't practice touchdown celebrations, but instead tackling. Throwing his body around, he would knock things to the floor, occasionally breaking little decorative pieces.

"Stuff that's replaceable," McCollough recalled.

Even at that young age, his father started calling him by a nickname. Three years later, when he finally joined a team and put on shoulder pads, there was no question that it was an apt title.

"I started hitting people, I was hitting people like a tank," McCollough said. "And it stuck."

It did; few Rams refer to the safety by his first name, defaulting instead to "Tank." And though some nicknames can wear out their welcome with age, McCollough does not feel that way about his.

"I feel like it represents who I am, just real hard nose and just like attack anything that's in front of me, anything that's in my way," he explained. "That's who I am, man, I'm a tank, hard body."

McCollough's hard-hitting ways have followed him to the NFL. Undrafted out of Tennessee, he plays with a violence that anyone in the stadium can feel when he delivers a hit.

Take his sack of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts on Sunday, his second sack of the season. The safety was lined up at dime linebacker, a role he's filled dating to his rookie season in 2024. With the right side of the Eagles line preoccupied with outside linebacker Jared Verse, McCollough came unblocked and was able to build speed like only a safety coming downhill can generate.

When McCollough arrived at the quarterback, he lowered his shoulder into his ribs. The impact lifted the 220-pound Hurts off the ground before he came crashing down into the grass.

As Hurts gathered himself, McCollough hopped up, flexing and jutting his chin forward as he stared out into the crowd, teammates rallying behind him.

"Once you see him make a play like that, showing off all that energy, if you know Tank, that's not him normally," cornerback Emmanuel Forbes said. "So we enjoy seeing that come out of him in that moment. So it gives us all boost of energy to go celebrate with him and continue to build momentum off of that."

McCollough calls that type of play "tone setting." It's something he's taken pride in since those early Pop Warner days when he first noticed that if he hit someone hard enough, he could see their desire to run with the ball, or at the very least in his direction, dissipate like the dust they disturbed when landing on the ground.

His dad, Eriles, played college football himself. The two would watch clips of other "tanks," like Steve Atwater, Christian Okoye, Sean Taylor, Ray Lewis or Ed Reed, as models for McCollough's game.

Role models are all well and fine, but to hit the way any of those players did, one needs a certain level of athleticism. Teammates see his burst in practice, but also in the weight room during dead lifts.

"We track the numbers and stuff and his numbers are always high, which shows the explosion," safety Cam Kurl said.

It's not something McCollough can practice every day; it's not like the Rams can permit those kind of blows between teammates while trying to keep everyone healthy for Sundays.

But when the time comes, McCollough is ready to deliver a jolt to an opponent - and his teammates.

"I love setting the tone, I love getting my teammates riled up. It riles me up, man, it elevates everybody's game," McCollough said. "Like, 'Oh, we're really here, we're really playing.' It's just something I take pride in, something I want to model. And when that film comes on, I want everybody to see No. 2 is a physical player."

Rams wide receiver Davante Adams (hamstring) and right tackle Rob Havenstein (ankle) did not practice Thursday.

Tight end Colby Parkinson (shoulder) and offensive linemen Steve Avila (ankle) and Justin Dedich (chest) were limited. Tight end Tyler Higbee was also added to the injury report as a limited participant with a hip injury.

Defensive end Braden Fiske (oblique) and safety Kamren Kinchens (shoulder) were full participants Thursday after being limited in Wednesday's practice.