The 2016 NFL draft may not have gone the way Rohan Gaines wanted as he went undrafted, but after signing with the Los Angeles Rams as an undrafted free agent he is now getting the one thing he always wanted-a chance to prove himself.

“Obviously the draft didn’t go the way I planned or the way I thought it would, but just to get a shot was all I wanted,” Gaines said. “All I ever wanted was just a shot to show and prove what I can do.”

Gaines chose to sign with the Rams over a list of teams that included the Raiders, Chargers, Jets and Cardinals.

“The Rams were one of the teams that called and I felt like it was the best situation for me,” Gaines said. “The staff and the mentality on defense that they play with. They play with a hard-nosed mentality.”

After choosing the Rams the next step was to travel to Los Angeles for rookie minicamp May 6-8, which would be his first introduction to life as an NFL player.

“The thing about Coach [Jeff] Fisher, he does a great job at bringing young players in, developing them before we just go full go with the veterans,” Gaines said. “The first few days it was walkthroughs, a lot of stretching, some conditioning here and there. Just learning how to be a pro.”

For Gaines the biggest change from college football, where he played at Arkansas, was learning a new playbook and the amount of information they throw at you at a time.

“In college you might have one-day install, might be one play, one or two plays, maybe one adjustment,” he said. “Our first meeting we installed at least 10 different plays and adjustments. It’s thrown right at us right then and we were expected to know the majority of it. That was one of the big things that I had to get adjusted to.”

Following the conclusion of mini camp the rookies have been integrated into the team and started working along with the veterans.

“Now we are practicing with the vets,” Gaines said. “We do everything with the vets except lift weights. [Fisher] is integrating us really well. He didn’t want us to come out and go full go because he knew that half of us weren’t in shape to go full go.”

It is a year of transition for the Rams’ as they adjust to a new city after moving from St. Louis, but Gaines said their move has gone well even though their facilities aren’t built yet.

“I haven’t been too many places in LA, but the places I have been LA is proud to have the Rams back here in LA,” he said. “They make us feel at home already even though everything’s not built, everything’s not set in stone right now. LA is happy. I’ve ran across many a fan and they just express how excited they are.”

The team is now going through OTA’s before starting training camp in the middle of July during which they will be featured on HBO’s Hard Knocks.

“I’m just looking forward to competing,” Gaines said. “We finally get a chance to go against the offense do some one-on-ones, do some 7-on-7 stuff with the offense. I’m just looking forward to competing with those guys and building more bonds.”