LOS ANGELES -- Davante Adams waited for the video from Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay to load, wondering if his Wi-Fi was broken.
It was early March, and the then-free agent wide receiver was in Japan on vacation before the start of the new league year.
When the clip finally loaded, Adams realized why it had taken so long. It was a seven-minute video filmed by McVay, who recorded it by holding up his phone to show film of Adams while he narrated the highlights.
"It was kind of Jon Gruden-esque a little bit," Adams said. "You know how he is with ball so he's breaking down every single clip. ... I thought he took that job to be on TV for a minute when I was watching it.
"It just shows how much ball means to him and how much of a priority I was for him and the rest of the guys here because it's not just him making those decisions. When you have that from a coach, you're on the free market and you don't see it from anybody else to that level, it means a lot."
Adams laughed when asked how he would describe McVay as a recruiter, saying, "Aggressive, but in all the right ways."
"I knew this," McVay said at the NFL's annual meeting this month. "When I sent him that video, he's either thinking one of two things: 'Man, I like this guy or he's freaking whacked.' And probably both, but he decided to come with us, so we'll take it."
McVay, now entering his ninth season as head coach of the Rams, has not only built a reputation as a great football mind, but has built a culture that has led to players wanting to come to Los Angeles. Not only have several players -- including quarterback Matthew Stafford -- taken less money to return to the Rams this offseason, but McVay has been able to recruit players like Adams to come play for a team constructed with a Super Bowl in mind.
"He is a good recruiter, man," backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo said. "He's a smooth talker, [has] high energy, which I really enjoy. I love Sean. Every day he brings that same energy.
"I love being here. It all starts with him, and it trickles down from there."
Not long after the 2024 season ended with a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in an NFC Divisional playoff contest, McVay, general manager Les Snead, team president Kevin Demoff and vice president of football and business administration Tony Pastoors went to Meadowood in Napa Valley, California, for "an after action review," according to McVay.
It was there the group talked about the short- and long-term vision of the team, the players who would be free agents and other potential moves. The group discussed Cooper Kupp "a lot during those couple days," ultimately deciding to move on from the wide receiver, either with a trade or a release.
The Rams had also "identified early in the process" that Adams was likely to be released by the New York Jets and be available, and McVay began picturing what Los Angeles' 2025 offense might look like.
"Through the process of talking to Davante, even if it was globally, Sean found someone he could connect with on a very intellectual level," Demoff said. "... I don't think you can replace Cooper Kupp's leadership in what he's meant in that room, but I do think you can have someone who can bring a different flavor and perspective will be great.
"But I do think there's always been, whether it's Matthew Stafford, Brandin Cooks, Ndamukong Suh, Sammy Watkins, you can go through the litany from the beginning of the Sean-Les relationship is when they identify a need and there is a ability through a trade or free agency to go get it, they're going to be pretty aggressive.
"And sometimes you try to pull the reins on them to stop, but usually they do a pretty good job of breaking free and usually it works out for us."
McVay doesn't wine and dine you, Snead said.
"He recruits in a way of 'Here's what I think your superpowers are as a football player, here's how I think we can use them, and this is how people have defended you in the past,'" Snead said. "'This is how I think we can help you avoid that defense. And we're trying to do something special here.'"
That recruiting pitch worked on Adams, who said in his introductory news conference "after speaking with a couple of players, Sean and a couple of the other personnel, it was clear that this was where I needed to be."
The Rams signed Adams to a two-year, $44 million contract in March with $26 million guaranteed.
Snead said McVay's recruitment helps him during contract negotiations as well.
"There's times where the agents go, 'I just can't stand the way this is going because my player's saying that this is where we're going so, we might as well quit playing games and try to work something out,'" Snead said.
Garoppolo, who signed a one-year deal to serve as backup quarterback in March 2024 because he wanted to play for McVay, said last season in Los Angeles "exceeded [his] expectations." The quarterback explored the free agent market and had other opportunities, but said he knew where he wanted to be.
"I've been in a couple of good organizations, [have] seen how things are run, and Sean [McVay] does it top-notch here," Garoppolo said.
Garoppolo was a player the Rams hoped would return in 2025, but one who they thought had a good chance to sign for more money elsewhere. When asked about McVay's recruiting pitch, Garoppolo said, "Every time I talk to him on the phone, I say like 10 words. He's talking so fast, in a good way though. It's his high energy.
"He has a point to make and I love that about him. There's no B.S.-ing around."
Nose tackle Poona Ford, who played the first five seasons of his career with the Seattle Seahawks, said he "always watched [McVay] from a distance" during the two games the teams played a season and he "always knew he was a guy that I could see myself playing for at some point."
Ford said his recruitment to the Rams "kind of happened really quick."
"They were really aggressive in the process, and I just felt like this was where I needed to be," Ford said.
And ultimately, the Rams have had a winning track record under McVay, going to two Super Bowls and winning Super Bowl LVI during the 2021 season.
"If you are a football player who really, really cares about playing good football and you want to be a part of an ecosystem that wins," Snead said. "... I always go, oh, it's recruiting, but it's really Sean really explaining to them, 'Hey, this is our ecosystem. This is how we do things and if you want to be a part of that man, we'd really love to have you. And if you don't, we'll always pull for you and try to ruin your day if we play you.'"