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If you’ve been a Los Angeles Rams’ fan for a while, then you probably remember the days when you’d be discussing their receivers and be forced to include the words “The Rams haven’t had a receiver eclipse 1,000 yards since...” The pursuit of that true No. 1, game-changing receiver had been going on since the Greatest Show on Turf days. If you didn’t suffer through it, let me just tell you that it was hard to imagine and even harder to stomach.
The good news now is that those days are behind us. The Rams are finally good at football again (!) and they’re loaded with talent on offense. The Rams haven’t had a receiver eclipse 1,000 yards since...well, last season. They had two! And I think we can pretty confidently say that had Cooper Kupp not sustained a season-ending knee injury, the Rams could have had three receivers accomplish the feat.
Even better, the Rams have their trio of star wideouts locked up for a while. Kupp, still on his rookie deal, is signed through 2021. Robert Woods’ contract expires in 2022, and Brandin Cooks is on a 5-year deal through 2024. If you’re a Rams fan you’ve got to be encouraged. If you’re Jared Goff, you’ve got to be thrilled.
It’s the 2019 offseason, at least for a little while longer, so there have to be lists. People love a good list. So I’ve got one I’d like to share with you. Over at Pro Football Focus, they’re looking at each team’s receiving corps heading into the regular season and ranking them from worst to first. If you’re a Jaguars’ fan, I’d just suggest not clicking and moving on to another article altogether.
The Philadelphia Eagles landed atop PFF’s rankings, having added DeSean Jackson and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside to what they refer to as an already “above-average unit in 2018.” The Atlanta Falcons took the second spot because of Julio Jones. Honestly, they could’ve just written “Julio Jones” and I think we all would’ve understood the message.
Your Los Angeles Rams get the bronze medal today.
3. LOS ANGELES RAMS
In 2018, Robert Woods, Brandin Cooks and Cooper Kupp all finished among the top-30 wide receivers in overall grade. The Rams are the only team heading into 2019 that can claim to have three wide receivers in that group. Considering that Kupp appears primed to return from his ACL injury and that the Rams used 11 personnel on over 90% of their snaps in 2018, those three should share the field often in 2019.
While you may still have fond memories of Mike Sims-Walker, Brandon Gibson, Kenny Britt (or any of the AFROS for that matter), Mardy Gilyard, Titus Young or Wes Welker, both of whom were Rams for about 17 minutes, rest assured the Rams are in a good spot with their current corps of receivers.
Fair? Foul? How do you think the Rams’ receiving corps - to include their TE’s - stack up against the NFL’s best?