{"id":107414,"date":"2025-07-31T11:27:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T11:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/107414\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T11:27:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T11:27:09","slug":"rams-linebacker-nate-landman-wears-his-pride-on-body-helmet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/107414\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams linebacker Nate Landman wears his pride on body, helmet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The lion\u2019s amber gaze fixes forward on Nate Landman\u2019s<\/a> left bicep, its mane fanning across the curve of his arm. Above Landman\u2019s wrist, a zebra bends to graze, while a giraffe behind steps through a stand of wind-bent acacia trees.<\/p>\n

Together, they form a tattooed sleeve of Zimbabwe \u2014 an inked landscape of home carried by the Rams<\/a>\u2019 newest defensive signal-caller.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not many Zimbabwe migrants in the United States,\u201d Landman said, \u201cso to represent my country and have this platform to do it is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

At age 4, Landman\u2019s family of six traded the southern tip of Africa for Northern California, chasing wider playing fields and educational opportunities for their children. Twenty-two years later, the red soil and wild coastlines of his first home still ride with him \u2014 in the way he stalks, strikes and erupts.<\/p>\n

So when tight end Davis Allen cut through a seam and caught a pass during Saturday\u2019s training camp session, Landman tracked him with the patience of a predator. He measured each step, sprang forward and then uncoiled, thumping the ball out of Allen\u2019s grip to send it skidding to the turf.<\/p>\n

After witnessing several of those jarring shots, safety Quentin Lake<\/a> coined the nickname \u201cPeanut Punch Landman,\u201d a nod to Landman\u2019s ability to force fumbles.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has just a knack for the ball,\u201d Lake said.<\/p>\n

The Atlanta Falcons were the first to detect that hunch, scooping Landman out of Colorado as an undrafted rookie. In each of the last two seasons, he forced three fumbles.<\/p>\n

That instinct \u2014 and the trust he\u2019s earned \u2014 fast-tracked Landman\u2019s role with the Rams. Signed as a free agent in March, Landman wasted little time winning over Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula<\/a>, who stuck a green dot on Landman\u2019s helmet, designating him as a commander of the defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that he understands the game, he\u2019s able to talk to everybody on the defense,\u201d Rams inside linebackers coach Greg Williams said. \u201cIt was almost a no-brainer when coach Shula came to me and said, \u2018I think Nate should have the green dot.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And for the Rams, that leadership and knack for creating turnovers came at a bargain. In a defense that doesn\u2019t spend big at linebacker, Landman \u2014 who signed a one-year, $1.1-million contract \u2014 arrived as a low-cost addition with high potential return.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great communicator. He\u2019s got great command. He\u2019s got the ability to elevate people,\u201d coach Sean McVay<\/a> said, adding, \u201cI just like the way that this guy\u2019s got a great vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Landman became an on-field general for the Rams, he was in teacher mode, offering teammates a primer that had nothing to do with playbooks.<\/p>\n

During a team meeting, Landman unfurled a map of Africa, tracing its outline with his finger before shading the small patch of land he calls home \u2014 wedged right above South Africa \u2014 to give his locker room a visual pin on where his story began.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of guys don\u2019t know that Africa, the continent, is full of just individual countries,\u201d Landman said. \u201cThey think it\u2019s states and stuff. So it\u2019s cool to be able to share that with them \u2014 not everybody believes when I say I\u2019m from Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid that crash course, one question kept resurfacing.<\/p>\n

Are there lions and deer roaming around?<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are fascinated,\u201d Landman said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a rare thing, that\u2019s why I\u2019m so proud of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though it\u2019s been a few years since Landman last stood on Zimbabwean soil, his family ties still tether him there. And as football sent him crisscrossing the United States, his homeland\u2019s hues and emblems have come along for the ride.<\/p>\n

The tattoo sleeve climbs into his chest, framing a map of Africa with Zimbabwe shaded deep. He still eats sadza nanyama, the maize-and-meat staple that fed his childhood. And in his parents\u2019 home, light falls on a gallery of African vignettes and keepsakes.<\/p>\n

His helmet bears the same allegiance, Zimbabwe\u2019s flag tagged proudly on the back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love wearing that Zimbabwe flag on the back of my helmet,\u201d Landman said, \u201cand I\u2019ll do that as long as I\u2019m in the NFL.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The lion\u2019s amber gaze fixes forward on Nate Landman\u2019s left bicep, its mane fanning across the curve of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":107415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[33254,7779,4637,1582,276,262,22366,316,68782,2961,12044,68783,224,5337,6549,3009,68781,7138,14164,2238],"class_list":{"0":"post-107414","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ability","9":"tag-africa","10":"tag-body","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-defense","14":"tag-helmet","15":"tag-home","16":"tag-knack","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-landman","19":"tag-lion","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-losangeles","22":"tag-map","23":"tag-pride","24":"tag-ram-linebacker-nate-landman","25":"tag-rams","26":"tag-way","27":"tag-zimbabwe"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114947610680907206","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}