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By: Andrew Ortenberg | 19 hours ago
The Los Angeles Rams’ offense has arguably been the best in the league over the past two seasons. A lot of that is due to the coaching of Sean McVay, as well as the progression of quarterback Jared Goff. But general manager Les Snead also deserves a lot of credit for the group of skill position players that he’s assembled.
The Rams’ offense is loaded with talent, and Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com rated the Rams’ “offensive arsenal” as the best in the NFL during his recent rankings of all 32 teams. It’s a ranking of the best group of running backs, wide receivers and tight ends in the league.
Barnwell admits he’s concerned about Todd Gurley’s health and how much of the load he’ll be able to carry, but writes that “Los Angeles is enthused about third-round pick Darrell Henderson.”
“Gurley probably isn’t going to average nearly 23 touches per game or average five touchdowns per month like he did from 2017-2018, but he could still be a very useful running back in the range of 15-18 touches per week. That’s less exciting for fantasy football, but it’s probably better for the Rams, especially if Henderson delivers on the preseason hype,” he adds.
The talk about Gurley’s knee is a little overblown at this point, and as Barnwell points out, he can still have a huge impact on the game even if he’s only carrying the ball 15 times instead of 20. If Henderson can perform like the Rams think he’s capable of, there won’t be much of a noticeable drop-off in the backfield.
The area Barnwell is highest on is the receivers, and it’s not hard to see why. The Rams have somehow gathered three receivers who could all realistically be a top option on any other team. As Barnwell points out, Cooper Kupp “was on pace for 1,132 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns before blowing out his knee,” and he’s probably the third-best receiver on the team.
“When you think about just how deep the Rams are at wide receiver with Kupp, Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods, even 85% of the old Gurley is enough to propel the Rams to the top of the weaponry charts,” Barnwell writes.
Woods is the oldest of the bunch, and he just turned 27. He is coming off a breakout season, and Cooks and Kupp haven’t even entered their primes yet. Having those three on the field together is nearly impossible to cover, and leads to endless matchups to exploit.
Snead deserves a lot of credit for snagging Kupp in the third round, signing Woods to what now looks to be a steal of a contract back in 2017, and trading for Cooks at a reasonable price. Gurley was the Offensive Player of the Year just two seasons ago and is still only 24. Considering Goff is also 24, the unit Snead has assembled is set up for a long run of success together.
The only thing preventing the Rams from having an unstoppable offense at this point is, as Barnwell points out, the fact that “there’s not much at tight end.” If Gerald Everett can take the next step in his development and finally deliver on his potential, it will no longer be debatable who has the best group of weapons in the NFL.
https://theramswire.usatoday.com/20...m_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=pos2headline
