BREAKINGNEWS: Los Angeles Rams’ Braden Fiske Gives His Thoughts On Sean McVay And Details Toughest Adjustment In NFL

Los Angeles Rams rookie defensive lineman Braden Fiske enters his first year with high expectations.

As acknowledged before, Fiske is aware that he’ll have “big shoes to fill” in replacing future Hall of Fame defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who announced his retirement after 10 seasons in the offseason. Not only is Fiske tasked in helping replace the greatest defensive tackle of his generation, he also has to live up to expectations after the Rams gave up heavy draft capital to move up to No. 39 to select the Florida State alum.

While the 6-foot-4 Fiske has yet to participate in his first training camp, he’s confident in himself after going through minicamp and getting a taste of what it’s like to play with NFL veterans. In fact, he downplays the adjustment curve in going from the college ranks to the pros.

“At the end of the day — like I said — it’s just football,” says Fiske in an exclusive one-on-one interview. “Everything starts to click pretty quick once you kind of get the terminology down. You kind of understand what the expectation is of your position. I think the transition has been pretty smooth.

The 24-year-old Fiske actually spent six seasons in college — five at Western Michigan and his last at Florida State — so he’s a bit more seasoned than your average rookie. In fact, Fiske played 58 games at the collegiate level. By comparison, his FSU and current Rams rookie teammate Jared Verse played 39 games in college.

That level of experience obviously gives Fiske a bit of an advantage as he makes his transition to the pros, where he’s expected to start in his rookie season. Fiske goes into further detail why he’s so confident after getting some work in the trenches during the first five weeks after he was drafted at the end of April.

“I think OTAs as a whole are really good for rookies in general,” explains Fiske. “I think it’s really good to get out there and get to feel the spread of the game. You get to be out there with the guys that have been doing it. You get to put yourself in position to know where you stand — physically, mentally, what you need to work on. I thought it went really well for me for the first five weeks that we were out there. And I think it’s a good prep for what I’m going to see in training camp.”