Most championship teams have a foundational star in place for several seasons before their first title. But the 2019-20 Clippers didn’t have that piece. They attempted to defy experience and continuity through Leonard’s and George’s incredible talent and the base of the prior season’s exceptional chemistry.
Brace Hemmelgarn / USA Today

It’s possible to win in Year 1 — the 2019-20 Lakers won the title with LeBron James and Anthony Davis in their first season together — but it’s historically uncommon. Unlike James, Leonard and George aren’t vocal leaders; they’re lead-by-example types.

The Clippers’ previous leadership regime — Beverley and Williams — was more vocal in nature. Beverley is a direct, if not confrontational leader, while Williams is a calming presence who picks his spots. But after being displaced within the team’s hierarchy, they weren’t as comfortable as the season before, multiple league sources said.

“Who did they look to as the guy that was going to bring them all together?” one league source said. “It can’t be the coach all the time.”

Leonard’s reticence was a tone-setter in the Clippers’ locker room.

The 2018-19 Clippers had a fun, light energy about them. The group visibly enjoyed being around one another, in part because they were a ragtag group with middling expectations.

Conversely, the 2019-20 Clippers had a much different vibe. Those around the team often categorized it as “off” or “weird.” The players didn’t joke around as much before or after games. They were far more serious — and quiet. Players, coaches and staffers became less friendly with and available to the media.

For better or worse, Leonard’s personality is enveloping, particularly as he’s grown into a superstar who doesn’t embrace the spotlight.

It presented a juggling act for Rivers, who was essentially in a lose-lose situation when it came to balancing the locker room’s personalities, egos and sensitivities. It was impossible to keep everyone content and connected.

“Pat, in particular, took the brunt of not feeling special,” one team source said.

Teammates had a level of acceptance of Leonard’s preferential treatment, as his status as a two-time champion and two-time Finals MVP — the then-reigning Finals MVP, at that — was indisputable.

But George’s treatment was more of an issue within the locker room, league sources said. George, while a perennial All-Star and All-NBA candidate, didn’t carry the same cachet with his teammates. There was a sentiment among certain teammates of, “What have you accomplished in the playoffs?” multiple league sources said.

The special treatment might have gone over better in the locker room had Leonard’s and George’s teammates felt they had a stronger relationship or bond with their superstar colleagues. Several members of the locker room felt that injuries should have allowed Leonard and George ample time to establish a better rapport with their teammates, but that never happened.

According to league sources, Leonard oftentimes was hanging out with close friend and Clippers assistant coach Jeremy Castleberry, whom Leonard has known since high school. George stuck with Reggie Jackson, one of his best friends in the league, and former Oklahoma City teammate Patrick Patterson.

The Clippers’ lack of personal connections led to communication issues in crucial moments, including, most notably, during their collapse against the Nuggets.

The players didn’t always address on-court issues or miscommunication or hold one another accountable. More often than not, the Clippers tried to sweep their issues — offensive stagnation, defensive miscommunication, inconsistent rebounding, etc. — under the rug rather than address them, league sources said.

When there was conflict, the group would typically go silent, the players retreating into their own worlds, on their phones or at their lockers. There was a discernible distance between the team, multiple league sources said.

“There was no dialogue when things weren’t good,” one league source said. “You need more than the rah-rah from Pat Beverley, every once in a while, that amps everybody up.”

Recognizing this, some players and coaches tried to improve the situation. After a rough stretch in early January, including Harrell’s eyebrow-raising comments to the media about the state of the team’s locker room, Leonard organized a series of players-only film sessions. He also worked out with Beverley and George during the hiatus after the league shut down because of the coronavirus.

But there wasn’t consistency behind his actions with teammates, multiple league sources said. He didn’t talk up his teammates publicly the way other stars do, or even behind the scenes. Leonard’s leadership progressed throughout the season, but it never reached the level it needed to foster a championship culture.

Rivers would frequently step in, at practices and in the locker room during games, initiating difficult conversations from which the group often refrained. But his voice stopped carrying the same weight, eventually. Overall, he wasn’t able to fully hold his players or coaching staff accountable, multiple league sources said.

Marcus Morris Sr., whom the Clippers acquired at the February 2020 trade deadline, entered the locker room with the intent of asserting himself as a leader after pacing the New York Knicks in scoring. He quickly became one of the team’s louder voices.

While league sources say Morris had good intentions with teammates, and was trying to step into the clear leadership void that he had observed when he joined the team, Morris’ advice for his new teammates didn’t always go over well.

“You don’t want to be the guy that just shows up and starts telling people what to do,” one league source said.

Center Ivica Zubac and Morris had several heated arguments early in Morris’ tenure, according to league sources, with Zubac essentially saying, “Why are you telling me to change what I’m doing after I’ve been doing it successfully all season?”

The ongoing adjustment and power dynamic between the stars and the role players prevented other Clippers from stepping up, creating a vacuum that was never filled — one that played a part in the team’s eventual collapse.

“If you were to ask all 15 players individually who the leader was, you’d get a lot of different answers,” one league source said.

The Clippers’ issue was often not what was said, but rather what wasn’t. That dynamic, coupled with the team’s injuries and lack of practice time due to the schedule and Rivers’ coaching style, led to a lack of continuity ahead of the NBA’s bubble restart in Orlando in July.
(Ashley Landis / pool via Getty Images)

Before the hiatus, the Clippers were playing their best basketball of the season. They went 7-2 out of the All-Star break, including a six-game win streak. After an inconsistent and injury-riddled season, they were healthy and jelling heading toward the playoffs.

But then the COVID-19 pandemic spread and the NBA shut down. The Clippers’ momentum was halted. The organization tried to remain proactive, sending personalized workout equipment to each player’s home. They coined the phrase “win the wait” and held multiple weekly workouts over Zoom. Leonard trained with George and Beverley in San Diego and Los Angeles.

As basketball’s return neared, it appeared the team would finally be whole. But the Orlando bubble was the perfect confluence of issues for the Clippers. They dealt with injuries and absences at inopportune times, and never rediscovered their rhythm.

Zubac and Landry Shamet tested positive for COVID-19. Morris Sr. and JaMychal Green arrived late for personal reasons. Harrell, Beverley and Williams each left the bubble due to the deaths of loved ones. Harrell missed a month. Williams attended the funeral of a family friend, stopping by the Magic City strip club for its famous chicken wings, only to be photographed and outed on social media by rapper Jack Harlow, leading to Williams being forced to quarantine for 10 days.

Once in the bubble, Beverley dealt with a strained left calf that caused him to miss five seeding games and five playoff games. George acknowledged dealing with anxiety and depression, which especially affected him in the Dallas series. Harrell was never again himself, looking physically compromised and less explosive as his numbers declined and the Clippers were outscored badly with him on the floor.

The constant turnover meant the Clippers never knew who was going to be available. While other teams were picking up from before the break, the Clippers were playing lineups and rotations they weren’t going to use in the postseason, all while some of their players struggled to regain their pre-hiatus form.

The bubble forced Clippers players to spend more time with one another, given their proximity and lack of alternative options to spend their time. Until Aug. 31, players didn’t have family or guests in the bubble. The Clippers were attempting to play catch-up chemistry-wise, and, at that point, they were too far behind other teams, league sources said.

But the same issues that the Clippers faced in the regular season transferred over to the bubble. Another point of contention was that certain players felt teammates were looking out for their contracts more than the team, league sources said. Earlier in the season, teammates had felt Harrell was looking out for his numbers because he was a pending free agent, and that belief continued into the bubble.

With higher stakes and pressure, there were several blow-ups between players, with George often at the center of the tension, with teammates citing a lack of accountability from him.

In the first-round series versus Dallas, Williams and George exchanged expletives amid a heated disagreement about accountability, league sources said. In the Denver series, George and Harrell got into a verbal spat during a timeout in Game 2, as Yahoo Sports first reported.

George’s comments to the media about the team still being in the “driver’s seat” after losing Game 6 to Denver didn’t go over well with his teammates, league sources said. It was made worse by George and Jackson openly sulking together in the locker room over their poor performances, which rubbed some teammates the wrong way throughout the playoffs.

During Game 7, several players felt George (10 points on 4-of-16 shooting, four rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in 38 minutes) didn’t play with the type of effort or sense of urgency that matched his public comments.

“It looked like he was coasting the entire game,” one league source said. “He looked like he was floating.”

Afterward, his impassioned speech to his teammates about bouncing back and returning next season rang hollow, as The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported on Sept. 21.

Rivers also failed to make proper adjustments, including playing Harrell fewer minutes and going with smaller, better-spaced lineups. His inability to counter in a timely manner in both the Dallas and Denver series was a significant factor in the Clippers demise.

The team’s Game 7 blowout loss confirmed to some around the Clippers that there was a front-runner quality to the team, in that they could trash-talk and jeer when they were ahead — like when Damian Lillard missed two free throws in a seeding game to cost the Trail Blazers — but that the team was hanging by a thread when it was behind, ready to crumble.

The Clippers hired Lue, in part, because of his ability to hold star players accountable. In Cleveland, he got their star triumvirate to buy into his messaging from Day 1. That entailed challenging James from the outset, as well as establishing a clear pecking order with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love behind James.

In Los Angeles, Lue will look to push Leonard and George to forgo certain requests or standards to set a better example for their teammates, league sources said. Additionally, he’ll establish a clearer internal hierarchy with the remaining role players, ensuring that players are on the same page and there is no confusion regarding roles and responsibilities. This is Leonard’s team, and Lue is going to let the locker room know that.
Kirby Lee / USA Today

At his introductory press conference in mid-October, Lue was grilled about the team’s chemistry and continuity concerns. He chalked up the issues as more due to circumstance — health, the bubble and several personal tragedies — than the team actually not getting along.

“I think we’re talking about chemistry and continuity, and it’s not more so off the court and guys not liking each other,” Lue said. “… When we talk about chemistry and continuity, it’s more so on the basketball court of just being familiar with guys and how guys like to receive the ball or where this guy is going to be on the floor. … I think that comes from being healthy and not having as many injuries.”

There is an element of truth to Lue’s sentiment.

Leonard and George only played together in 37 of the 72 regular-season games (51.4 percent of games), preventing the Clippers from gaining the reps they needed between their two best players. LA only had its top 10 rotation players healthy for 11 games. The Clippers tied the Warriors for the most starting lineups used, and were second behind the Bucks in total lineups used more than once.

Leonard and George were understandably focused on maintaining their health, with an eye toward a deep postseason run. But grinders like Williams, Harrell, Beverley and Green were focused on the present — playing hard every day, no matter the circumstance. There was a clear contrast between the approaches, league sources said.

In addition, some players grappled with their change in identity, as multiple players acknowledged to The Athletic throughout the season. They weren’t used to being the hunted instead of the hunters. The isolation nature of the new offense, particularly when Leonard was on the floor, also led to a diminished sense of joy with the team’s playing style.

“You’ve got a lot of parts,” Williams said after Game 7. “You go from last year, we were the team that wasn’t expected to make the playoffs, to going and being a championship-caliber team when you bring in two high-level guys. That’s an adjustment.

“Trez and I, we had to adjust our games. I think everybody had to sacrifice and put themselves in a different position and that type of thing takes time, especially when you’re doing it for years at a time.”

The Clippers’ free agency showed that the team and its players had some irreconcilable differences. The Clippers re-signed Morris, Jackson and Patterson, but watched as Harrell and Green — two key members of the 2018-19 and 2019-20 teams — left for contract dollars that the Clippers could have matched or surpassed.

The Clippers rebounded by signing Serge Ibaka, whose 3-and-D skill set, championship experience and public friendship with Leonard are positive additions to the locker room. His affable personality should serve as a connecting force between players. Aside from Ibaka’s arguably superior fit on the court, mixing up the team’s locker room dynamic could prove to be the change the Clippers need. LA also traded for Luke Kennard and signed Nicolas Batum to bolster the bench.

Moreover, the Clippers are planning to make several notable adjustments under Lue this season, prioritizing modern principles like pace, spacing, shooting and small ball more than they did under Rivers. Based on his teams’ rate of improvement in Cleveland, Lue has the potential to unlock the best version of the Clippers on both ends. He’s already discussed playing with more ball movement, which would likely translate to an offense in which players feel more important and involved.

Clipper players are excited to play for Lue, league sources said. The team is well aware that iso-ball won’t work this season. This season’s squad should be able to build continuity off of last season, with midseason newcomers like Morris and Jackson able to participate in training camp. The Clippers will also have Leonard and George available in training camp after missing some (Leonard) or all of it (George) last season.

Lue’s additions to his coaching staff — Dan Craig, Kenny Atkinson, Chauncey Billups, Roy Rogers and Larry Drew II — are well-regarded around the league for a wide range of skills, including player development. The Clippers are confident that their offseason personnel changes, coupled with Lue’s strengths as a tactician and locker-room leader, will be the solution to most of their issues from last season, league sources said.

As the Clippers begin the second year of the Leonard-George partnership, the burden is on Lue, the front office and ownership to figure out how to maximize the pairing. After last season’s embarrassing ending, that task includes continuing to evaluate and determine which players fit around Leonard and George, both on and off the court.

The pressure is on for LA to learn from last season’s cultural mistakes. The onus is also on Leonard and George to take greater accountability and establish a healthier locker room dynamic this season, which league sources say the duo is aware of. The 2021 free-agency period is looming.

Perhaps there will be fewer examples of preferential treatment this season, be it the team revising its approach or the superstars re-evaluating the method’s effectiveness. Or perhaps nothing will change on that front and this season’s role players will simply be more accepting of their limitations and responsibilities, meshing better with their superstar counterparts.

The Clippers had as much, if not more talent than any other team in the NBA last season. But the ingredients never quite mixed right.

Ultimately, the first season of this chemistry experiment failed. Now it’s back to the lab.

Packers bout to spank that ass

why u waste all dat fg

smh. may have well of let me do one of my spicy bets

Only wanna read it cuz we just hired ya boi

We haven’t had a 1st round pick in years and we’re still finding gems in the draft, he’s a good one.

Data, film and luck: How the Rams hit the jackpot on Jordan Fuller
Jourdan Rodrigue Oct 7, 2020 85

To this day, Jordan Fuller’s Rams teammates are baffled.

The rookie safety was a sixth-round pick this April. Yet somehow, he has worked his way into a starting role despite not having any intra-team preseason activities with which to onboard into the Rams’ defense, plus only about two and a half weeks of training-camp reps and two scrimmages. That’s not very typical of the usual late-round-draft-pick storyline.

“I was just very impressed with him from the jump, just how really professional he is, and how he goes about his business,” star cornerback Jalen Ramsey said. “How he has the ambition to be the greatest, the best at what he does, how he communicates.

“He’s just waaaay better than, what, sixth-round pick? He’s way better than that. I’m not sure how he slipped all the way there. That’s kind of the question that I continue to ask myself about him.”

Inexplicably, 16 safeties were drafted before Fuller. And that’s what Fuller’s teammates — and fans — just cannot understand.

During the draft, as Rams staffers sat in their virtual war room, checking off their most important positions round by round, they watched safeties drop off the board and began to get excited. Fuller, who received third- or fourth-round grades from their own staff at worst, was still there. They had already filled a more pressing defensive need — that of a nickel/safety hybrid in third-rounder Terrell Burgess — and had imagined, with some frustration, that Fuller would be long gone by the time they had attended to their more crucial positional needs.

With no fifth-round pick, the Rams watched, somewhat painfully, and waited. When their sixth-round pick came up, Fuller was still available.

Better yet, the Rams’ staff knew there was no catch. After all, it would have been hard for a team to do more research on a player than the Rams did on Fuller for years prior to the draft. So they knew that some of the factors that may have sunk Fuller in the eyes of other teams — lower positional value, a bad 40 time, no pro day, simply being overlooked behind the stars in an Ohio State secondary — were actually non-factors.

Far be it for them to question what other teams could possibly have been thinking by letting him slip.

When general manager Les Snead picked up the phone to make the call for Fuller at No. 199, all that mattered was that Fuller was going to be a Ram.

“It was a huge surprise,” said Jake Temme, a Rams data analyst who was one of the leads on Fuller through the pre-draft process and who was conferenced in for the pick.

“I’m even looking at my Word document that I gave to Les, and I have him as an ideal target at pick No. 126. We got him at No. 199. … I can tell you, we just were absolutely ecstatic at No. 199 when he remained. (The reaction was) definitely joy.”

Brian Hill is the Rams’ Midwest area scout, and if he worked in education, he would be the teacher all of the students dread. Hill is a tough grader, a stickler for hard data and deep film study, and he is the stingiest to hand out high marks among all of the Rams’ scouting personnel.

The Rams’ scouting grades rank, from lowest to highest, with terms such as “camp player,” “fringe,” “back-end,” “backup,” “good starter,” “top-notch starter,” and “elite starter.” Within each category, there is a number system that helps the staff understand at which end of the category the player should be placed.

In the last three years, Hill has only given starting-level grades to 11 players. They have included San Francisco defensive end Nick Bosa, Washington outside linebacker Chase Young, Detroit tight end T.J. Hockenson and Pittsburgh linebacker Devin Bush, all of whom were top-10 picks.

And Fuller.

So when Hill’s report on Fuller landed in the inboxes of team personnel and data staffers, it caused a bit of a stir.

“The first thing that stood out to me was Brian’s grade,” Temme said. “Knowing his background, he is typically someone who is … a tough grader. Typically, when he gives a starter grade, it’s meaningful and impactful. … It was kind of a blinking indicator on my end. These guys were talking about him (based on his position) on maybe Day 3 of the draft, but our area scout is grading him along with people who have gone in the top 10.”

In fact, Fuller was Hill’s top-rated safety in the entire draft class. And in advocating for Fuller, Hill even pushed himself out of his comfort zone in meetings.

“He was one of my favorite guys in the draft. I tried to convey that as emotionally as I could,” Hill said with a laugh. “There are some scouts who are excellent presenters. … I’m more analytical, more introverted. So it was about being more firm. Yes, this guy is the top safety. Yes, I would take him. Yes, I love this guy. Yes, I want him (to be a Ram).”

The fact that Hill — usually even-keel, restrained and deadpan — was pounding the table for the prospect was an even bigger deal. Snead purposely does not let his own emotions or feel for prospects show throughout pre-draft meetings because he doesn’t want that bias leaking into his scouts’ thoughts. He wants instead to feel what they feel about their guy.

And Fuller was Hill’s guy through and through. Hill had scouted Fuller’s older brother, Devin, at UCLA when he was covering the West Coast, and even then had heard that Jordan was a pretty solid athlete.

“A couple of years later, I’m the Midwest scout. … (Jordan) played a little as a freshman and then ended up starting three years at Ohio State,” said Hill, who began following Fuller’s career after former Ohio State coach Greg Schiano raved about him as a sophomore.

Coach after coach soon followed. Everybody wanted to tell Hill how special Fuller was. As Hill got his hands on more of Fuller’s tape, he saw what they meant.

“He is just so smart,” Hill said. “Our (defensive backs) coaches — Ejiro Evero and Aubrey Pleasant — those two are smart guys. They always talk about how you only have one chance to find the right angle, and that’s Jordan. He plays with excellent angles. He gets to the football. His range — he’s a big dude, he’s 6-foot-2 and he covers ground, eats up stripes — and he was just always in the right position all the time.”

Ohio State, loaded with a star-studded defensive backfield that in 2019 featured two first-round picks in Jeff Okudah and Damon Arnette, played a lot of press-man coverage. That left Fuller to hold down the back middle of the field alone, and in that space, Hill said, Fuller made remarkably few errors, if any.

“He just kind of played that deep-centerfield safety position,” Temme said, “but he was just extremely effective in his role.”
Jordan Fuller recorded 216 tackles in 45 games at Ohio State. (Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today)

Defensive coordinator Brandon Staley immediately perked up when he started going over the tape because of Fuller’s fit within the scheme Staley planned to utilize in his first year in Los Angeles, one that places a particularly heavy responsibility on safeties.

“Going into the draft, we really felt strongly about needing a third safety at minimum,” Staley said. “Lot of scrutiny put on that position. I think from the very beginning, Jordan was a guy who stood out. … When you play in that type of (single-safety) scheme, that player is very valuable. It’s kind of that Earl Thomas role in Seattle that he made famous. There’s a lot of trust put in that player. So Jordan is a guy who stood out by his features (and) length, and he has a really dynamic play style. He’s always in his stance, always in good position. Plays the game with a lot of intensity. The guy is always running to the football at a high speed. He takes really good angles.

“And the way we play, our defense, we are looking for safeties who can play in the deep part of the field. We are not looking for strong safeties because we view those guys as linebackers. We want guys who can operate in the deep part of the field. … He’s an ideal scheme fit for us.”

The Rams were confident in their on-field evaluations of Fuller, but they were drawn even further to him after meeting him and digging into his background.

“He was a two-time captain at Ohio State, so that kind of stood out,” Staley said. “And then as you keep watching the film, then you make a couple of phone calls to people you trust and then you hear about his makeup — and then you’re on your way.”

At the end of every Rams scouting report is a prospect summary called a “one-liner.”

About Fuller, Hill wrote: “He reminds me of John Johnson III.”

It’s a compliment of the highest order within the Rams organization.

“(Johnson) has been a cornerstone for us,” Hill explained. “(Fuller) is wired the right way, both on and off the field. I think he’s the perfect fit, the perfect marriage.”

In the spring, as Fuller prepared for the combine, he also immersed himself in a book given to him by his business manager, Michael Ledo, called “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose.”

The self-help book, written by Eckhart Tolle, emphasizes living presently, knowing oneself and one’s ability on Earth, and the creation of non-material happiness by setting aside ego in favor of deep introspection.

Ledo — the CEO and founder of RISE Sports Advisors — wanted to use the book as a motivator of sorts for Fuller, who, he said, despite showing “freakish” athleticism and ability, struck him as almost a little too humble. He saw a young man who, despite all his potential, had been accustomed to being a little bit overlooked amid all of the star power around him at Ohio State.

“When I first met him,” Ledo said, “I was like, ‘What a nice human being.’ Like, this is who you’d want your daughter to date. Seriously … and we would talk about this book and send notes back and forth. And it was like, this discovery of self. That’s when I found out, through the dialogue, that he was a special person — like, whoa. I gave him some pretty heavy stuff and I just didn’t know whether he could digest it yet. But the way his thought process was … and then I started seeing application of change, of confidence.”

As the Rams looked into Fuller’s background and mental makeup, they saw what Ledo saw and were floored. Yes, Fuller was a two-time team captain for the Buckeyes, which impressed the staff, but it went much deeper.

Holmes, the Rams’ director of college scouting, visited a few Ohio State spring practices and remarked afterward that his information-gathering process on Fuller’s character was among the most positive he had seen in his 18 years of work in the NFL.

As more coaches got to meet Fuller, more jumped on board.

“He’s one of the smartest kids I’ve ever interviewed at the combine,” Evero said. “Really bright. The thing that stood out about him, too, is that you watch the film and see a guy who is out there flying around and throwing his body around and stuff, and you meet the kid and he’s just really composed, really chill. … He lets it loose when he plays, but he’s also just very calm, very calculated. Very at ease.”

Temme said that the two highest “character grades” he has seen in his seven years with the Rams have been starting linebacker Micah Kiser and Fuller.

“He’s the nicest, most humble — just smiling, just a heck of a kid,” Hill said. “We do this thing called ‘Plan for Success,’ about how our draft picks can be successful. When I talked to his coaches after we drafted him, they were like … ‘This kid is intrinsically motivated, and he is going to excel at anything he does in life.’ I mean, Jordan is just … he’s a better human being. He’s going to be active in the community. He’s going to be an ambassador for our program. I could not be more impressed with him as a person.”

Ledo added, “He’s not trying to impress anybody, that’s for sure. He’s just trying to be Jordan.”

Ledo said that, as Fuller’s NFL career continues, he particularly wants to invest time and resources into special education and music. The latter is a big part of his family’s background because his mother, Cindy Mizelle, is a singer who has toured with Bruce Springsteen, Luther Vandross and the Rolling Stones.

Fuller’s uncle is the comedian Sinbad. As the Rams staff dug deeper into his background during the pre-draft process, they speculated: Was Fuller’s upbringing in a star-studded family part of the reason he seemed, to them, so very unflappable?

“He’s been exposed to so many things,” Evero said. “There’s no nervousness. There’s no rattle. This guy is completely calm and poised. and there is nothing that is too big for him. The more you get to know him, you see that he’s up to the moment. He’s up to anything that he could ever face in pro football. It’s kind of cool to see.”

Given all of this, how the heck did Fuller fall?

Many on the Rams’ staff have theories. Hill said it’s simply too hard to evaluate the safety position unless a scout digs into more than just a couple games. There also was a sense that Fuller was overlooked because of the talent at higher-profile positions in his draft class. There is also less of a “position value” placed on safety, considering the draft and free-agent pool, and 2019’s rookie class flooded the zone with safety talent. Finally, there was the matter of Fuller’s 40-yard dash time at the combine: a relatively slow 4.67 seconds.

Temme said if Fuller had been able to run at a pro day, he likely would have shaved a tenth of a second off his 40 time and, in turn, would have upped his draft stock. But the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of these events, so Fuller was stuck with the time he had.

Strictly from an analytical standpoint, Temme believes that because Fuller was unable to test a second time, the Rams’ probability of being able to select him increased by quite a large margin.

That is in part because the Rams view the 40-yard dash a little different than most teams. Instead of making it a major qualifying factor for a prospect, they consider it to be a cognitive bias — an untruth that, because of its recency in the mind and the splashy marketing around the run as an event, needs to be unpacked from the mind as a deciding factor in prospect evaluation.

“That coherent-seeking part of our brains,” Holmes said, “it will value that piece of information so highly that it will trump the logic that you could combat that information with, like a 40 time. Then you back that up with recency bias because that’s like, the last thing you saw (from him).

“When you look back at it, it’s like, ‘What really holds more weight? The real evidence that you saw with your own eyes? Plus the elite intangibles and intelligence that he has? Or that number that he produced at the combine, (which doesn’t involve) playing football?'”
Some teams might have been scared off by Fuller’s 4.67-second 40 run at the combine. (Brian Spurlock / USA Today)

The Rams used this bias-removal process in 2017 when evaluating receiver Cooper Kupp, who ran a slow 40 but was a highly ranked prospect on their draft board. It was all about other clear data points — Kupp’s precision route-running, his ability as a blocker and his intangibles as a franchise leader.

“I think we have proven ourselves, under Les, as a team that is willing to overlook the combine and say, ‘That’s not the be-all end-all, and we’re going to use other data points and other facts to gauge whether the player is fast enough to play at the next level,'” Hill said.

The Rams received GPS tracking data from Ohio State that showed Fuller being capable of running speeds up to 20 miles per hour. They also used predictive modeling based on his build to determine that Fuller would sustainably play much faster than the straight-line sprint test showed.

“As a safety, you have to have a great feel for the game,” Evero said. “Guys that have the ability to react fast. It’s not just how fast you can run, it’s how fast you diagnose and how fast you get to a play. And this guy, Jordan, is an elite reactor. He is really smart. He sees things fast. And then when he’s in the deep part of the field, he’s just very fluid and very smooth.”

The Rams refused to allow Fuller’s 40 time to influence their evaluation of him and instead depended on game tape. Through Hill’s four years of study, plus their own learned experiences with Hill as a tough evaluator, the Rams believe they were able to come up with a much clearer view of Fuller than other teams.

When they factored in his intangibles — and then, luck of all luck, saw him still available at No. 199 — Fuller was a no-brainer.

During a severely truncated training camp, Fuller first filled in at safety for an injured Taylor Rapp. But even as Rapp got healthy, Fuller had firmly planted his feet in the role.

“Seeing him in the acclimation period, seeing him in some of those walkthroughs, you just really had a strong sense of his command,” Staley said. “That’s what you’re looking for. To see him operate against Sean McVay’s offense every day, I think you get a true test of someone’s football acumen as a defensive player. So I think that we were really able to have confidence in what we were seeing. Because, as you know, defending Sean is no easy task. To do an entire offseason on the computer, to never practice at all … to literally just show up and start the way he did, it takes a certain special someone to be like that.”

There is still a long developmental journey ahead for Fuller. But in the fourth quarter of the first game of the NFL season, all of the men and women who had worked to evaluate Fuller and predict his potential got a glimpse of why they were right.

Fuller was told he had earned the starting job a week before the opener against Dallas at SoFi Stadium. Ledo had to pull the information out of the ever-humble Fuller.

“We were talking throughout training camp and he never even alluded to starting!” Ledo said with a laugh. “He just will never boast. It’s just not in his blood.”

As the game unfolded, it took Fuller a few snaps to get comfortable. He missed a few tackles but then found himself. Ledo, who was watching the game at home, noticed the moment things started to click for Fuller.

“The first thing that came to my mind was like, ‘Holy crap, he looks comfortable out there!'” Ledo said with a laugh. “Like he had been out there for three years. … I was watching the game, and I’m like, ‘Damn, he’s doing pretty good.'”

With the Cowboys trailing by three points and their offense deep in Rams territory in the fourth quarter, Fuller got receiver CeeDee Lamb as his coverage responsibility on a fourth-and-3. Fuller read the pre-snap movement and diagnosed where Lamb would end up on his route, and then the amount of traffic that would accumulate in the middle of the field in an attempt to stop Fuller from getting to Lamb in time to make the stop.

But Fuller was able to smartly negotiate that traffic and get the exact angle needed on Lamb to make a huge tackle on the play, thwarting the comeback effort. McVay afterward said it was the play of the game.

“When he made that play, it just (said to me) like he was not afraid of the moment,” Ledo said.

For the Rams’ coaching staff and personnel department, it was like watching every positive instinct they had about Fuller throughout the years-long discovery and evaluation process play out in real time.

“I’m happy we got him,” Holmes said with a laugh. “I mean, I’m very, very happy for Jordan. But I’m happier for us.”