Los Angeles Rams, Chargers to Be Featured on HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’

The Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers are looking to make history. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, both teams are set to be featured on the HBO docuseries Hard Knocks, assuming that training camps don’t get canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. It would be the first time in the show’s history two teams will be the focus.

Schefter said an official announcement is not planned for this week, as NFL and NFL Films are focusing on the first virtual draft. An announcement was scheduled to be made at last week’s NFL annual meeting, but that was canceled due to the pandemic. Training camps for all teams will kick off at the end of July, but as of right now, no one knows if training camp will be pushed back. But the NFL, which produces the show for HBO, is preparing as if training camps will start on time. For the Rams, this will be the second time they have been on Hard Knocks, as they were on the series in 2016. The Chargers have never been on Hard Knocks.

The news of Hard Knocks comes on the heels of the NFL announcing plans for the draft. Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the plans on Monday, and head coaches and general managers will be drafting from their homes. The draft was originally planned to take place in Las Vegas, but those plans were canceled last month.

“Because of these circumstances, Clubs have been advised to prepare to conduct the 2020 Draft entirely outside of their facilities and in a fully virtual format, with club personnel in separate locations and able to communicate with one another and Draft headquarters by phone or internet,” Goodell said in the memo sent to all 32 teams. “We have reviewed this matter in the past few days with the Competition Committee and CEC, and this will confirm that Clubs will conduct their Draft operations remotely, with club personnel located separately in their homes.”

Hard Knocks began in 2001 and there have been 14 seasons of the series. The teams have been featured on Hard Knocks are the Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons, Houston Texans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns, and Oakland Raiders. The Cowboys and Bengals have been on the show twice.