Madison Plummer is a Los Angeles Rams and NFL pioneer

LOS ANGELES – It’s not yet 8 a.m. on a Wednesday, but a major travel deadline has staffers moving with urgency at the Los Angeles Rams’ training facility.

With consecutive road games upcoming – including one in London – head coach Sean McVay flipped the script. Instead of returning to L.A. after playing the Baltimore Ravens, the Rams will stay in the Baltimore area for the week before flying overseas to face the Jacksonville Jaguars. To prepare for this extended travel, the team’s support personnel must shoulder additional work – a responsibility shared by equipment assistant Madison Plummer.

The first Black woman in NFL history to hold a full-time role in equipment, Plummer joins her colleagues in preparing for the trip while also fulfilling their usual duties at the club’s complex in an upscale part of the San Fernando Valley. In addition to outfitting players and coaches for daily practice and two games, there’s extra equipment to pack and contingencies to plan for in unfamiliar surroundings. And today’s practice will start soon.

As usual, Plummer performs her duties with aplomb, working in concert with the efficient equipment staff to get the job done. Practice runs smoothly that day and throughout the week, and the Rams were packed and loaded on the first leg of their journey with time to spare before wheels up.

The Rams’ equipment staff is second to none in the league, McVay said, and its newest permanent member has only made the group better.

“Madison is awesome,” McVay said. “She’s so supremely secure in herself, immerses herself in the work, she can chop it up with the guys and have fun. But ultimately, we’re all here to be able to produce within our role. And that’s the main thing – Madison is highly productive.”

In her first year as a full-fledged member of the organization (following two summer internships and a one-year fellowship with the club), Plummer continues to impress the Rams, displaying a level of professionalism that belies her 23 years. While many people her age – and even some who are much older than her, for that matter – are only starting to get things figured out professionally, Plummer has channeled her passion for football into launching her career at its highest level.

Relying on the unwavering support of her close-knit family, Plummer felt empowered to pursue a path few women have taken in one of the world’s most male-dominated fields. During her time in college at Mississippi State, she put in the work to forge an unconventional career, seizing one opportunity after another.

Now, she’s exactly where she wants to be – and growing daily.

Brendan Burger, the club’s senior director of equipment, is comfortable entrusting Plummer with any task, confident she’ll deliver because of “her mindset,” he said. “To find someone who knows what she wants to do at that age, and stick with it, it’s just so impressive to me. And just the way she has fit in with the rest of the staff, the players, our coaches, our support staff … it’s great to see.”

For as long as she can remember, Plummer never envisioned taking another road.

Madison Plummer was trying her mama’s last nerve.

It was the summer before Madison’s freshman year of high school in Slidell, Louisiana, and Leslie Plummer was seconds away from turning around the car. In the moment, Leslie’s husband wasn’t too high on her list, either.

Bruce Plummer was the one who had recommended their eldest daughter for a manager position with the high school football team. While attending a swim meet their youngest daughter, Mia, was participating in, Bruce met the school’s offensive line coach, who told him the team needed help. The job sounded perfect for Madison, who enjoyed watching football and understood the game.

On the first day Madison was supposed to report for work, however, Bruce couldn’t take her. As Leslie and Madison pulled up to the field, Madison got stage fright. She refused to leave the car unless her mother came with her.

Leslie had things to do.

Bluntly, she explained the situation to her baby.

“I’m like, ‘Girl, if you want to do this, you better get out of this car right now,’ ” Leslie recalled. “She needed to prove to herself she could do it without me or her father being there. Because if she was going to be successful, we couldn’t do it for her.”

Finally, Madison opened the door – the first of many involving football she’d walk through.

“She loved it,” Leslie said. “When she got home later that day, she said it was great. Her father knew it would be right for her. Sports, football, was something they shared.”

Bruce and Madison bonded over football, a sport which Bruce excelled at in high school, and then during college at Mississippi State. In fact, Bruce, a defensive back, was so good the Denver Broncos selected him in the ninth round (250th overall) of the 1987 NFL draft.

He played five seasons for the Broncos, Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts and San Francisco 49ers. Following his time on NFL rosters, Bruce had a two-year stint in the Canadian Football League with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and B.C. Lions.

After four more seasons in the Arena Football League, he turned in his pads and helmet for good. With his playing days behind him, Bruce returned to the NFL as a longtime scout for the Atlanta Falcons.

Madison and Mia were born during Bruce’s 10-year run with Atlanta, and, not surprisingly, football became a big part of their young lives. Madison gravitated toward it most.

“Basically, I spent my entire childhood around the sport,” Madison said. “I was always watching it with him on Saturdays, watching it with him on Sundays, talking with him to learn about it. And I really liked it.”

Throughout high school, Madison remained in the team-manager position. She figured her time on the field would end once she graduated, but a visit to Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi, before her freshman year of college expanded her thinking.

A respected former Mississippi State player and alumnus, Bruce still had strong ties to the school. Confident Madison would enjoy working in equipment for a major-college program, he arranged a meeting with members of the Bulldogs’ football staff. She was offered a job.

Make no mistake, Bruce’s football connections helped open a door for Madison. It wouldn’t be the last time.

But as Leslie has often reminded Madison, her father can’t do the work for her. Whether Madison rises or falls is on her. And, as Leslie is quick to point out, Madison keeps moving in the right direction.

“Getting in the door is one thing. But you’re not gonna stay where you are unless you prove yourself,” Leslie said. “That’s what she has done.”

During her freshman year at Mississippi State, Madison was part of the football team’s 15-member equipment staff. Assigned primarily to assist the offensive line during practice, she also helped with special teams. After practice, the entire equipment staff pitched in on the mountains of laundry done daily.

That first year, she didn’t have significant game-day responsibilities, “but I was learning,” she said. “Just being there at the games, and seeing everything and being aware of what happens, taught me a lot.”

After her freshman year, Madison was among a handful of equipment staffers asked to remain in Starkville to work over the summer. One day that summer, her dad called about another potential opportunity.

“He asked if I wanted to go work for the [Chicago] Bears,” Madison said.

Through one of Bruce’s connections, he learned that the Bears unexpectedly had an internship opening in equipment. Three weeks later, Madison was in Chicago. Her positive experience there sealed the deal: She wanted a career in equipment in the NFL.

“Seeing it on the NFL level, just the way things are done and the contribution you can make to helping an organization, yeah, I knew right away,” she said. “For me, this was it.”

Rams general manager Les Snead is one of the best in the business.

The roster architect of the franchise’s 2022 Super Bowl-winning team, Snead receives the highest-possible praise from friends and foes alike, who refer to him as being a scout’s scout. He’s known as much for his old-school rigor as his keen eye for talent.

Over decades crisscrossing the country in search of players, Snead built countless bonds with others as invested in the game he loves. Willing – and often downright eager – to help friends seeking opportunities for their family members and others, Snead has an ironclad rule about his role in the Rams’ hiring process: All he guarantees is that resumés will be put in front of the right people. From there, it’s an open competition.

Snead and Bruce Plummer (“Plum,” as he’s known to compadres like Snead) worked alongside each other in the Falcons’ organization. After Madison’s time with the Bears, Bruce dipped back into his past in hopes of helping Madison take another step forward, reaching out to his former boss who now runs the Rams’ football operation.

Impressed by Madison’s resumé, Snead forwarded it to Burger, the head of the Rams’ equipment staff. A few weeks later, Burger interviewed Madison on a video call.

“My boss at Mississippi State knew Brendan,” Madison said. “Almost as soon as I got off the phone, my boss texted me and was like, ‘You got the job.’ ”

On her first internship with the Rams, Madison was with the team for about a month, through its first preseason game. Mindful of her duties at Mississippi State, she asked to return to campus before the season, which only impressed the Rams even more.

Burger moved quickly to sign up Madison for the following summer. Although Madison was all in, she asked for a shorter commitment because a new coaching staff was coming in at Mississippi State. “These people didn’t know me,” she said. “I didn’t wanna just waltz up in there on the first day of school and they’re like, ‘Who’s this chick?’ ”

Burger obliged, reducing Madison’s second internship to two weeks. Having proved herself over consecutive summers, Madison had an ally in Burger, who was already looking toward the future. Madison was, too: The club’s fellowship position in equipment caught her attention. “He said to me, ‘Well, look for a place to stay in Woodland Hills,’ ” Madison said.

After graduating from Mississippi State with a degree in sports administration, Madison returned to the Rams. Last spring, she was promoted to full time, becoming a pioneer in the process. In equipment, there have only been three women in that capacity in a league that’s more than 105 years old.

At the highest levels of the NFL, her hiring was noted.

Madison’s role with the Rams is the result of talent, opportunity and access converging to produce progress, Troy Vincent believes. Vincent, the league’s executive vice president of football operations, has seen it happen many times before.

“Madison Plummer exemplifies the possibilities when doors are opened and skill is recognized,” Vincent wrote in a text message. “At just 23, she’s not only breaking barriers as the first Black woman to serve in a full-time role in equipment in our league, but she’s also setting a powerful example for all women who will follow.

“Someone has to be the pioneer, and she is that someone. This moment is long overdue. As our football ecosystem continues to grow and evolve, this is what football for all looks like as it creates more pathways for women to lead, contribute, and shine.”

That’s heady stuff, especially for someone who’s only two years removed from being able to rent a car. Nonetheless, Madison gets that she has broken a glass ceiling.

“For sure, I will appreciate it and think about it a lot more later on in life,” she said. “But for right now, I’m just really focused on what I’m doing.”

Preparing an NFL team to play each week is an enormous undertaking, much of which happens out of the public eye. As the saying goes, an army moves on its stomach – and an NFL team can’t succeed without a strong equipment staff.

Burger puts it well, comparing those who work in equipment to “roadies” for rock bands: the first ones in and the last ones out, doing a whole lot of heavy lifting in between. Try running practice without them.

Assisting position coaches, moving down markers and 10-yard chains, operating clocks, charting plays, spotting balls – they’re everywhere. On game days, other tasks take precedence.

Making sure players are properly outfitted with game attire tops the list. Jerseys, game pants, helmets, cleats, shoulder pads, compression pads, other protective gear – it’s up to the equipment staff to ensure that everything is in tip-top shape.

Whether the Rams play on their home field at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, or on the road, there’s always packing to do for 53 players (48 are active for games) and 22 coaches. And, of course, seemingly never-ending laundry.

During her fellowship, Madison assisted with player apparel. Now, she’s the main person handling it.

“I never really associate what I do as being work,” Madison said. “It’s like, this is just somewhere that I go every day to do something I really enjoy.”

Her dad can relate.

Bruce never viewed playing, scouting or coaching football as breaking rocks. As he can attest, finding an occupation one enjoys – and is good at – is one pillar of a happy life.

“She found her passion in football and poured her heart into it,” said Bruce, now a high school football coach in Slidell. “It’s working out for her.”

Not that there haven’t been a few bumps along the way.

People unfamiliar with Madison’s background are often surprised by her football knowledge. Then there are the puzzled facial expressions of strangers who see her at work.

“In college, I once had someone come up to me and ask to speak with a ‘real’ equipment person,” she said. “I raised my hand like, ‘Right here.’ ”

Fortunately for Madison, the Rams’ environment is ideal for her. Burger is supportive of his staff, she said, and everyone she has encountered in the organization has been helpful.

“Because you’re dealing with younger people in college, it’s a little different than what you’ll experience working in the NFL,” Madison said. “What I appreciate about the NFL, what I’ve found, is that the respect level is just so much higher.

“You’re dealing with grown men. Some of these men have wives and daughters. They know how they would want them to be treated. There’s just a different maturity. And as long as you’re doing your job and working hard, they respect that.”

The work. Fittingly, it always comes back to that.

While Madison continued to complete assignments that Wednesday (on outdoor practice fields and in equipment storage areas) to prepare for the long trip ahead, Snead recalled a recent conversation he had with Bruce. At a Rams game, Bruce thanked Snead for taking care of Madison. Quickly, Snead set the record straight.

“Let me tell you this, Bruce – ‘Madison is taking care of herself,’ ” Snead said. “She came here and, heck, whatever expectations [Bruce] had, she exceeded them. And does it daily.”

Madison Plummer didn’t set out to be a pioneer. She just wanted a job that never felt like work.

With the Rams, she got both. And in the process, changed the game.

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