Rams legend offers advice to 2026 draft prospects

Long-time NFL running back Steven Jackson enjoyed a solid career with the Los Angeles (then-St. Louis) Rams. He was drafted No. 24 overall in 2004, played nine years for the Rams and amassed 10,138 rushing yards with 56 rushing touchdowns.

Clearly, he understood how to build himself up in the NFL. And now he's offering his ideas on what the next generation of NFL running backs should do when talking with teams.

In a conversation on NFL Network's "Good Morning Football," Jackson said prospects should just be themselves, but also prove to teams that they shouldn't take you off the field.

"The advice is, you know, just be yourself," Jackson said. "Go into these meetings expecting to be challenged in a way that, you know, IQ-wise, you can tell them what you know on the field—your exposure to coverages and protection. But at the same time, let them know that you’re ready to be there, it’s something you’ve been working for for a lifetime, and once their name is called, they won't regret it.

"You know, these guys are all talented. When you start talking about who should go where, what—for me, I always just think about being a bell cow. Make it hard on the play-callers and the head coach to take you off the field. That’s the way I approach my game, and that’s the way I encourage them to go about it."

Jackson was a true bell cow running back for the Rams during the majority of his career. He rushed at least 230 times in all but one of his nine seasons and led the team in rushing attempts in his last eight seasons for the Rams. Jackson finished his 12-year career with 2,764 carries — which is the 18th most in NFL history.

Now, this running back class might not have many bell cow-caliber players, but that doesn't mean they should go into meetings acting like that. Jackson's advice is all about propping up oneself before proving a player's indispensability — kind of like what Kyren Williams did for the Rams when he started to take on a bigger role in 2023.

This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams legend offers advice to 2026 draft prospects