Yes which is my concern. I have to think that if he's standing out in practice catching the ball they would have found a way to get a look at him on gameday. Because we really could have used a matchup threat last season. So him not sniffing the field insinuates that he wasn't really standing out.
Best hope there is that it was the blocking. Which could explain it. Either way having a weapon emerge at TE would be incredible. I envy all these offenses that have that big target threat.
Agreed. I will just add that at this time last yes, I didn't want to touch him with a 10-foot pole because of the high amount of drops. And, because he was mainly used split-out, not inline, told me he has little experience blocking. Then, after the Rams selected him, I took a closer look into the drops. It seems the "drops" were in specific situations and not others. I'll use streets as as analogy... when he had a play with a route that he reached it''s end, like a culdesac, and with a defender on him, he was able to hold the ball and bring it in to his body just about every time. Where he seemed to drop the ball was when he was on the boulevard with green lights in front of him.... he seemed to drop a good percentage of these. So, this tells me, he has the ability to hold onto the ball. He will need to be coached to have the same concentration on the seam routes as he does when running an out route near the sideline.
Regarding blocking, you would think having a father as an All Pro O-Tackle, that the blocking would come natural to him. We have to hope that he got in a good season of NFL strength training to help in this department. If not, the Rams will be replacing one athletic pass catching TE (Everett) with another (Hopkins).
