LOS ANGELES — Before he was old enough to sign up for football, Jaylen McCollough would try to play the sport in his house.

Big even as a toddler, he didn’t practice touchdown celebrations, but instead tackling. Throwing his body around, he would knock things to the floor, occasionally breaking little decorative pieces.

“Stuff that’s replaceable,” McCollough recalled.

Even at that young age, his father started calling him by a nickname. Three years later, when he finally joined a team and put on shoulder pads, there was no question that it was an apt title.

“I started hitting people, I was hitting people like a tank,” McCollough said. “And it stuck.”

It did; few Rams refer to the safety by his first name, defaulting instead to “Tank.” And though some nicknames can wear out their welco

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