There will be no shortage of storylines when the Rams are featured on Hard Knocks this August; this offseason the team relocated to Los Angeles, and traded up to the No. 1 spot to draft franchise quarterback Jared Goff.
So interest will be keen and expectations will be high -- but the hope is that neither will be a distraction for an outfit that hasn't been to the playoffs since 2004, when Mike Martz was the coach, Marc Bulger was the quarterback, and the Greatest Show on Turf was still a thing.
"We want this to be the best show to date," coach Jeff Fisher said, via the Los Angeles Times' Sam Farmer. "We want to pave the way for the member clubs to line up for the opportunity to do this ... The players are familiar, they understand what's ahead, we've talked to the coaches and they're excited."
But, Fisher added, "we want them to be football players, not actors."
On its surface, there would appears to be little upside in taking part in Hard Knocks. But Fisher talked with several coaches from teams previously on the show to make sure it wouldn't put the Rams at a competitive disadvantage.
As Farmer writes, "The last six Hard Knocks teams have matched or improved their win-loss record from the previous season, and the Cincinnati Bengals (2009, 2013), New York Jets (2010) and Houston Texans (2015) all made the playoffs in the season they were featured."
Who knows, maybe this turns out to be one of the best decisions in Fisher's coaching career, though defensive lineman Aaron Donald seems unconcerned about it all.
"It's just a camera in your face," he said. "The game we play, there's always a camera in your face."
Meanwhile, punter Johnny Hekker sounds less worried about the video than the audio.
"I've got to make sure that my grandmother doesn't have to hear me bleeped out," he told Farmer.
