Top Rams players from the 2022 season, No. 15: Van Jefferson

The 2022 Los Angeles Rams season featured a lot of changing parts. Franchise cornerstone Andrew Whitworth retired after the Super Bowl. 2021 mid-season trade acquisition Von Miller went east and joined the Buffalo Bills. Robert Woods was traded to the Tennessee Titans. And Odell Beckham Jr went unsigned as he recovered from an ACL tear. From Week 1, the Rams started losing starters to injuries. This forced new names into more prominent roles.

As we look back on the 2022 season, I wanted to conduct a Top 15 countdown of the Rams best players from this year. Before we get to the list, here are the players that just missed the cut.

Greg Gaines, DL

A’Shawn Robinson, DL

Taylor Rapp, S

Nick Scott, S

Allen Robinson, WR

Without further ado...

No. 15 - Van Jefferson, WR

The Rams third year wide receiver just cracked the top 15 list. Van Jefferson’s season did not get underway until Week 8 vs San Francisco. Jefferson was sidelined for the first seven weeks of the year because of a second offseason knee surgery during training camp. The setback severely affected the Rams vertical passing offense.

For the season, Van finished 24 receptions, 369 yards, and three touchdowns. While those numbers did not excite anyone, Stafford and Jefferson were only on the field together for 2 ½ games. Jefferson was then forced to sync up with three different quarterbacks over the remaining seven games of the season. I hardly fault Jefferson for the below average quarterback play and would have been intrigued to see his production with Stafford under center.

His best performances came in Week 14 and Week 17. In the Thursday Night Game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Van Jefferson hauled in Baker Mayfield’s 23-yard pass for the game winning touchdown with just 0:10 seconds left.

The win snapped LA’s six game losing streak and reenergized the team’s morale. In Week 17 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Jefferson tallied three receptions for 77 yards against the NFL’s #7 ranked passing defense.

Jefferson’s PFF season grade was 68.4. While Jefferson did not have the year three production a lot of Rams fans and he wanted to have, it must be taken with a grain of salt considering the early season injury and lack of quarterback play hindering his production.