In any other year, Rams rookies would’ve been weeks deep into the offseason workout program, which includes rookie minicamp and OTAs. The coronavirus pandemic has thrown a wrench into things, though, postponing minicamp and all on-field work for not only rookies, but all players.
As a result, Terrell Burgess has had to find ways to stay active on his own, while also attending meetings over Zoom video conferences and studying the playbook in his free time. He joined J.B. Long on the Rams Revealed podcast this week to share his daily routine during this modified offseason.
“My workouts kind of vary, but I try to – if I don’t run before in the morning, I’ll get up [at] I don’t know what time, make breakfast and get ready for meetings at around 10:30,” he said. “And we’ll go from 10:30 till who knows when. Let’s say it goes to 1:30, 2 o’clock. And then I will go work out, I’ll go lift in the weight room for about an hour and a half. Then I’ll go to the field and run for about an hour and a half. Come back and eat and then it’s study and wake up and do it all over again.
“It’s a lot of repetitive but I mean, this is my job now so I’ve got to make sure I treat it like a professional.”
Burgess acknowledged the amount of classroom work and studying that’s still required of players after leaving college, but it’s not something he’s surprised by. He knew what he was signing up for when he got to the NFL.
“It’s a lot but that’s what we train for. You want to get to this point in your life to where you can do it,” he said.
Burgess wasn’t a coveted prospect in the draft, necessarily, with each team passing on him at least once as he was selected in Round 3 at No. 104 overall. His lack of experience in college as just a one-year starter hurt his stock, but Burgess is seemingly just scratching the surface of how good he can be.
He couldn’t pinpoint the moment when he realized he could play in the NFL, but he’s always been confident in his own abilities to make it to this point.
“I’ve always believed in myself. I’ve always had confidence – I don’t want to say cocky – but I definitely had confidence and believed in myself,” he told Long. “I don’t know if there was an exact moment, but I think toward the end of the season, I could feel that my play was getting a little bit better and I knew that I had somewhat of a chance. I didn’t know what would happen until my phone started ringing and it said Thousand Oaks, California. But outside of that, I knew that I believed I could play at this level, I just wanted to get an opportunity.”
Burgess will be a backup initially, most likely, but he could contribute as the third safety behind Taylor Rapp and John Johnson, and also work his way onto the field as a nickel corner in place of Nickell Robey-Coleman. Even if he doesn’t make a profound impact as a rookie, it’s hard not to be excited about Burgess’ potential.