Nothing is guaranteed in life, and certainly not in the NFL. Players who were stars in college can burn out quicker than a match.
For Los Angeles Rams running back Malcolm Brown, his star was shining during his years at the University of Texas. He had 2,678 rushing yards and 24 touchdowns in four years, which is impressive, to say the least. However, he did not impress enough to get drafted during the 2015 NFL Draft.
Now, five years later, Brown has continued to shine by adapting and pushing through. He found a starting point with the Rams special teams and worked his way back to the running back position. After serving as Todd Gurley’s primary backup the last couple of seasons, he re-signed with the Rams on a two-year deal this offseason.
With 19 undrafted free agents working out with the Rams this Spring, Brown can relate and urged them to continue working to carve out a role for themselves, via Clarence Dennis of TheRams.com:
“Switching your mindset from being the man to being a role player — that’s harder for some guys, it’s harder for everybody who goes through that, especially if you have zero experience,” Brown said just a few weeks before his brand new teammates will fight for their spot on the loaded championship-caliber roster in year one.
For many of the young Rams hopefuls, it will be an uphill battle to make the roster this year. As mentioned, the Rams are championship ready and are largely hoping to run back the roster from last year. Rookies will have to start from square one and earn their keep.
For Brown, he was pushed by special teams coordinator John ‘Bones’ Fassel. After adopting his methods, Brown proved he was a multifaceted threat on the special teams. Brown has played in all four sequences of special teams and taken on numerous roles.
Before going down with a clavicle injury last season, Brown had 43 rushing attempts for 212 yards. He and Darrell Henderson should both see a sizeable workload to spell Gurley this season.
