RAMS : Wright Looking to Run Rings Around Quarterbacks

There are giant white rings lying on the grass at Rams Park, and Alvin Wright is a 300-pound vision of something just short of gracefulness as he gallops around the rings in the pattern prescribed by his new coaches.

Around and around he goes in this tricky agility drill, and where he stops, only Wright knows.

“Reminds me of ballet,” Coach John Robinson said later, unable to resist a smile.

“It is fun to see, isn’t it,” defensive line coach John Teerlinck said, “especially when it isn’t like he has to be here and you had better be here. That’s a real start to building the kind of attitude we have to have to get the job done.”

It certainly doesn’t remind anyone around Rams Park of anything that went on last year, when all Wright was asked to do was be a thick and sturdy nose tackle whose sole responsibility was to tie up as many blockers as physically possible.

Now, with the defense changed from a three-man set to a four, Wright is the left tackle and will line up against a guard much of the time. His new job description requires him to push upfield and attack the passer. Maybe even get some sacks.

In his three years as the Rams’ starting nose tackle, Wright has amassed all of six sacks--including only one last year--and this year he might be asked to leap into double digits.

That’s why Wright has been asked to attend this voluntary camp as a 30-year-old veteran among neophytes, and why he spins around in Teerlinck’s quirky ring drill.

Wright will be joined by his veteran teammates Wednesday, when the Rams open training camp at UC Irvine, but for now, he is on his own with the rookies and new acquisitions, struggling just as they’re struggling to learn an entirely new system.

Unhappy with having to change positions and starting from scratch? Not Wright, who maybe could do without the ring drill but otherwise seems to be enjoying himself.

“In fact, it’s going to make things that much easier for me because now I won’t have the responsibility I had on the nose,” he said. “It’ll allow me to shoot the gap and get upfield.”

And get sacks. You can tell Wright enjoys thinking about that.

“That’ll be a change compared to what they’ve been asking me to do,” he said. “I’ve been the one to take the bumps and the bruises and someone else gets the glory. Hopefully I can change some of that and maybe get to the quarterback myself.”

When the Rams didn’t get defensive tackle Russell Maryland in this year’s draft--he went No. 1 overall and the Rams took cornerback Todd Lyght--and couldn’t maneuver themselves in position to acquire either a proven vet or a sure-thing rookie, Wright become their best hope.

“We expect him to be a dominating tackle inside on the left side,” defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher said. “He’ll play in some of the fronts on the nose, but he’ll be our left tackle.

“From the mental standpoint, he calls a lot of the (signals) up front--that’s a lot of the reason he’s here now, the learning process. He can be a dominating tackle if he stays healthy, and right now we feel he’s on track.”

Healthy, in the Rams’ defense, means being light enough and in good enough condition to rush the passer 45 or 50 times per game. Wright was well over 300 pounds for most of last season and is currently listed at 285. He lost over 15 pounds in the spring, but has apparently regained much of that.

“The last couple years, my understanding is he’s had a history of pulls and things like that as they got him into training camp,” Fisher said. “We wanted him to ease into it with these last three or four days.”

Wright knows he must be quicker this season and must be more of an athlete in the middle. A pressure defense needs a Keith Millard--or a Jerome Brown-type in the middle to make things go, and Wright needs to be quick off the ball to charge that hard.

“They want Alvin to be able to play,” Wright said. “They won’t care if I came in at 400 if I could move. They want Alvin to be a good player.

“I’ve tried to drop down in weight and I’ve dropped 20 pounds, but I’m not at the goal I want to be when training camp starts.

“I’m much quicker than I was last year, but I’ve still got a ways to go.”

So while youngsters such as draft-picks Jeff Fields and Robert Young hustle to prove to coaches they’re legitimate NFL players, a proven NFL player is trying to get into shape to become a dominant one.

“Do I feel younger around these guys?” Wright repeats incredulously. “No. My age hasn’t started taking a toll on me yet, but I do realize these guys are younger than I am and I have to work that much harder to stay up with them.”

Wright’s longtime playing mate and friend, left end Doug Reed, definitely will not be with the Rams this season. Reed, embroiled in a salary dispute during the off-season, has been given permission to seek a deal with another team.

“Doug is a good friend of mine,” Wright said. “I’ve played beside him ever since I’ve been here. But in one’s life everyone has to make decisions, and I think Doug was trying to make the best decision for himself and I hope it just works out for him.

“I don’t get involved in that. When he’s here, he’s here, if he’s not, then I ask around and see where he’s at. Alvin has to kind of stick to Alvin.”

Rams Notes

Talks continued between the Rams and the agent for unsigned No. 1 draft choice Todd Lyght over the weekend, but apparently with no serious progress. On Saturday, Lyght’s agent, Bob Woolf, made his first proposal, a four-year deal believed to be worth more than $6 million over the life of the contract and including a $2.5-million signing bonus. That averages out to more than $1.5 million a season. Woolf’s offer was a counterproposal to the Rams’ original five-year, $4.255-million offer, including a $1.5-million signing bonus. That averages out to exactly $850,000 a season.

Rams Coach John Robinson said that although the Rams suffered a boatload of injuries during last season’s training camp, he doesn’t intend to let his players off lightly this year.

“No, we’ll be twice as tough,” Robinson said. “It’ll be a very physical tough. Injuries don’t come because of tough, physical practices. (Last year was) the least physical camp ever, and we had the most injuries. . . . No, we will be physically prepared this season.”