LOS ANGELES — An 11th and final practice came and went for the Los Angeles Rams at Loyola Marymount University on Thursday.The Rams will now return to their Woodland Hills facility, where all eyes will be on the potential of a player who isn’t currently on the roster.Here are seven thoughts from the final practice of the traditional camp setting.1. The defense rising to a level above the offense these past three practices has been mostly encouraging. The Rams were built in an entirely opposite fashion a year ago with the most expensive offense and least expensive defense in the NFL. That foreshadowed how their season would end, with MVP quarterback Matthew Stafford and a dominant offense unable to carry an unbalanced and compromised defense in an NFC Championship Game loss to the Seattle Seahawks.Adding reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett to the edge is an obvious difference, but the pass rush was still the strength of last year’s unit with Jared Verse in that spot. It has a dominant closer now.Matthew Stafford: Los Angeles Rams are 'lucky' to have Sean McVayRobert MaysThe biggest difference has been the secondary, and it’s clear to see each and every practice. Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson have been a breath of fresh air in two noticeable ways: their integrity and physicality against perimeter runs and their ability to match up and make plays on the ball against wide receivers as good as Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.Watson has often drawn the Adams assignment. The two have traded wins, with Adams’ connection with Stafford simply too strong at times for Watson to make a play on an outbreaking route or an anticipation throw into zone, and other moments where Watson’s physicality has thrown Adams off of his routes to lead to pass breakups and occasional drops.The trickle-down effect is noticeable: Quentin Lake and Kam Curl have combined for at least one play in contested coverage a practice, and both scored defensive touchdowns on Monday.The Rams rarely pay two safeties. They paid those two a combined $49 million guaranteed because they know they have more playmaking and versatility to unpack when the weaknesses at outside cornerback have now become strengths.2. The biggest single boost to this roster is McDuffie.He’s not the best addition. That’s Garrett, who just set the NFL’s all-time single-season sacks record with 23 last year. But again, he’s upgrading on a Pro Bowler in Verse.It’s really something to watch an outside cornerback on this team with these kinds of pre-snap reads, versatile alignments and coverage instincts. McDuffie showcased the instincts on Monday, when Stafford uncorked a deep out throw to Nacua, who had a step on McDuffie, only for McDuffie to recover and swat the ball away for an incompletion.“When that ball is in the air, you can see the body tense up and how they react when the ball is in the air, the look and lean,” Nacua said. “It’s something that he stays patient (with), and in that deep ball rep that we had the other day of him running and saying, ‘You’ve got to take it all the way to the ground.’ I think it’s something that’s been fun and working different movements at the line of scrimmage because he is so patient and trusts his feet.”Add in McDuffie’s communication, leadership and Super Bowl pedigree, and he creates a total package that appears worth a first-round pick and a record-breaking contract extension, given the sheer upgrade it all provides to a premium position that became this unit’s Achilles’ heel a year ago.“It’s his stickiness,” free safety Kam Kinchens said. “It’s not too many plays that go by where he’s not on that person’s hip, without having to draw PI (pass interference). Even the play with Puka down the field, he’s never out of a play.”3. The Aaron Donald wait continues. It gained a little juice on Tuesday, when the Rams hosted the currently retired three-time Defensive Player of the Year for a workout on the players’ off day. Donald went through individual drills and a workout with defensive line coach Giff Smith, trainer Reggie Scott and strength coach Justin Lovett.It’s all part of Donald’s personal evaluation process on whether to make this comeback, but coach Sean McVay continued to reiterate that the arrow is pointing upward when it comes to a potential reunion with the 35-year-old.“He’s got such an intentional routine and rhythm,” McVay said. “He’s taking great care of himself, as we all know. Getting ready to play football and just working out the way that he has, there’s a little bit of a different rhythm and routine.”4. The Rams built in a practice schedule to allow for loads of backup quarterback reps with Stafford missing two out of every four practices to manage his degenerative back issue. But they have given the wide majority of those extra reps to Stetson Bennett over rookie Ty Simpson.Thursday was another up-and-down session for Bennett. He threw a pick six to Shaun Dolac when he didn’t see the linebacker hovering in zone and breaking downhill. Bennett has been tripped up for at least one turnover-worthy throw like that per practice. He’s been a risk-taker, which is more tolerable in a practice than a game.Bennett had a nice play Thursday where he rolled out under pressure to the right sideline and lofted a ball perfectly in stride to sixth-round rookie receiver CJ Daniels for a first down. Those two plays have been a summary of Bennett’s camp so far.If the focus with Simpson is on sitting and learning this year, time will tell whether the Rams have enough of a backup given Stafford’s age and health risks in a Super Bowl-focused season.Stetson Bennett has had some up-and-down moments as the Rams’ backup QB this summer. (Imagn Images via Reuters Connect)5. After a clean first nine practices, sloppiness did hit the Rams’ offense these past two sessions. Wednesday’s practice was the dud, and McVay acknowledged that it wasn’t what he was hoping to see, as turnovers and pre-snap penalties doomed the first and second units.It was somewhat understandable given Stafford’s and Adams’ absences, but Thursday only provided a small step forward.6. Much of the talk this camp has been about Blake Corum’s offseason workouts and improving physique. But it’s hard not to notice a springier step in Kyren Williams’ game as well.That was on display on a run near the red zone on Thursday, when Williams took an inside handoff and raced around the right edge until Emmanuel Forbes Jr. finally caught him at the sideline. He did that a couple of times for first downs, showing a trust in his speed over the contact-finishing abilities that don’t apply much in these settings.After three straight 1,100-plus-yard seasons, a better speed element is the next gear for Williams to chase.“This year, I honed in on really training to be a running back,” Williams said. “Those pad levels, those cuts, and when I am cutting, sinking my body because if I cut straight up, I’m not going anywhere. My superpowers are when I’m low to the ground. I have both my feet in the ground and I’m planting and I’m explosive. I think this year, I really honed in on what it is being a running back.”7. Perhaps the best news of this portion of training camp is that the Rams got through it with a great bill of health.Tight end Davis Allen suffered a quad injury that will keep him out for some time, but it does come at the Rams’ deepest position. Top backup guard Justin Dedich has yet to practice after suffering a hand injury on the Fourth of July, which was obviously before camp began. That’s basically it on the health front.Compared to the Carolina Panthers losing multiple key players to season-ending injuries and the San Francisco 49ers practicing down 20 players on Wednesday, it’s exactly what this camp was asking for.Some of it is the Rams’ good luck, but it also speaks to how careful McVay and the training staff are. They bake in rest days for veterans like Adams. When Garrett experienced a little lower-body soreness, the Rams gave him four practices off. They have maintenance plans for players with pre-existing injuries and conditions, such as with Stafford’s back, Byron Young’s knee and Alaric Jackson’s blood clots.“He knows what we go through, and he’s had so many elite players to where he knows what it takes, and he knows when to hold off,” Curl said of McVay. “He knows when to put a pedal to the metal. He takes care of us.“This camp has been love. How he runs it, it’s love. On our part, we’ve just got to work hard to keep it like that. It’s love. I’ve been in some stuff where it’s totally opposite.”That’s the advantage for a team whose first-string depth chart, identity and culture are as stable as this.