Gerald Everett is a sleeping giant in Rams offense

[LesBaker]

Everett needs to continue to develop as a run blocker to overtake Higbee full-time and dominate the snap-share at tight end. He’s already viewed as the far superior pass catcher, and the numbers show it. He just isn’t the trusted run blocker that Higbee is.

I think there has too be more to it than just the blocking. There has to be. Maybe getting more snaps as the season went on meant he didn't know the O the way he should.

Just guessing here.

We can talk about this forever folks...but this is on McVay. I still say The Rams lost the Super Bowl because McVay forgot the TEs.

Well you are close! According to one of the Patriots they were tipped off by WHICH one of the TE's was on the field regarding if the play was pass or run and made adjustments accordingly. He was quoted that is was almost always a correct "tell".

McVay "beat" himself because Belichik found the flaw in the machine. You can bet McVay won't do that again.

 

[Corbin]

Is Gerald Jim Everett's son?

 

[Merlin]

Respect your opinion, but who do you think he is a better option than?

I view Cooks and Woods as fringe WR1s, and Kupp as a full blown WR1, with Gurley as the top receiving back in the NFL. I would only rank Kelce, Kittle and possibly Ertz as on that level as receiving options, and I don't think Reed was on that level.

IF the Everett that we have seen in small doses becomes that player consistently... I.E. the guy who I have seen make contested catches and add RB type RAC ability on his college film and in previous camps (didn't attend this year's camp)... He will be a better option than Cooks and Woods in the redzone as well as must-have short yardage situations. He will spell any of the three at any time and provide a different look and matchup problem for a defense.

He had a great chance to step up last season, btw, when Kupp went down and he didn't. And vs the Pats the fact that McVay wouldn't put him out there with Higs in order to shake up what Belichick was doing (or equally do the same thing with 10 personnel and JRey btw) was in large part due to his lack of confidence in the player.

Go back 3 years and ask anyone at that time if they'd rather have Reed or Woods. Or even Reed or Cooks. And probably 80 to 90 percent would answer Reed. He was that good in the WCO with McVay drawin it up. McVay has done the same for both Woods and Cooks, optimizing their talent, and he will do the same with Everett if and when he shows enough in camp and practice to warrant it IMO.

 

[Merlin]

Also as we discuss this stuff the other important element involved in this topic is Jared's continued growth. Mentioned this a few posts ago, but when you have a TE who can make contested catches and provide a RAC threat, that's a matchup problem vs a LB and most safeties. And when you have a QB who is reading matchups pre-snap within the scope of the play at a very high level, he is going to note the matchup problem, hike the ball, and burn the defense.

So as your QB grows to that elite level it actually magnifies a varied approach IMO. Because defenses and DCs make extra mistakes when they need to keep subbing groups to keep up with a varied offense.

 

[RamFan503]

What I believe that "Rams have a better receiving corps" argument ignores is that Everett simply has taken longer to develop. And that happens. And he might be ready to be featured this season. But he bears some of that responsibility for lack of opportunity IMO.

I don't agree. WA didn't have the WR talent nor the RB talent of the Rams. Reed had the big season but his having a couple hundred more yards in a season absolutely has to do with options. In two of the last four seasons, Reed was WA's top receiver and he didn't achieve 1000 yards in either campaign.

With the Rams, a TE is unlikely to get huge numbers of targets unless we go pass happy. When you have this kind of depth at receiver, AND a very good running game with a very good receiving back, someone is going to be the odd man out. Rightly so, you are going to take blocking ability over another receiving threat.

I believe the only responsibility he holds for not achieving Reed type numbers, is that he wasn't as big of a receiving threat as four others with just that much more talent. Hell - Reed had ZERO TDs his second season. The disparity just isn't that big between the two even with the shitload of offensive talent we have on the field.

I expect some big plays from GE this season but I just don't think we get JR 2015 numbers out of him unless something really bad happens.

 

[So Ram]

What if he breaks out ?? Your going to have to figure The Rams are going to pass more this season.
What we are seeing in the preseason is very far from what play calls will be.

Everett & Higbee might have 12 TD’s between the both

 

[ramfan46]

The offense can function fine with the current production of the TEs. To add that final piece of balance though, there needs to be more of a consistent threat there. At a minimum, when they face a team stacked at CB, they need to be able to adjust and start attacking LBs and Safeties with Everett , Higs and the RBs.

 

[RamFan503]

The offense can function fine with the current production of the TEs. To add that final piece of balance though, there needs to be more of a consistent threat there. At a minimum, when they face a team stacked at CB, they need to be able to adjust and start attacking LBs and Safeties with Everett , Higs and the RBs.

This is where I think his "breakout" may occur - as a way to match up against any team. And if that's all the gain he makes, I think we would all be fine with it.

I think he will see more touches this season as McVay is going to want to keep all teams off balance as much as possible. But I also think this is part of the evolution of this team. We have gone with the talent we knew we had while developing young/raw talent.

I suppose we'll see how it all plays out but I suspect we may see a similar distribution while adding in our new RB. We have two newbs on the O-line, so unless GE has really improved his blocking or the new additions prove to be plug and play, we can probably expect to see Higbeast continue to get a lot of playing time.

 

[FrantikRam]

IF the Everett that we have seen in small doses becomes that player consistently... I.E. the guy who I have seen make contested catches and add RB type RAC ability on his college film and in previous camps (didn't attend this year's camp)... He will be a better option than Cooks and Woods in the redzone as well as must-have short yardage situations. He will spell any of the three at any time and provide a different look and matchup problem for a defense.

He had a great chance to step up last season, btw, when Kupp went down and he didn't. And vs the Pats the fact that McVay wouldn't put him out there with Higs in order to shake up what Belichick was doing (or equally do the same thing with 10 personnel and JRey btw) was in large part due to his lack of confidence in the player.

Go back 3 years and ask anyone at that time if they'd rather have Reed or Woods. Or even Reed or Cooks. And probably 80 to 90 percent would answer Reed. He was that good in the WCO with McVay drawin it up. McVay has done the same for both Woods and Cooks, optimizing their talent, and he will do the same with Everett if and when he shows enough in camp and practice to warrant it IMO.

Woods and Cooks were different players three years ago. I would not take Reed over the Cooks or Woods of last year....I wouldn't even think about it.

How do you know the bolded was due to a lack of confidence? Everett was in more our most critical plays against the Chiefs and Saints in the NFCCG - I really doubt it was a lack of confidence. A lack of skill run blocking perhaps - but you'll get that with almost any receiving TE.

It's fair that he could be a better redzone target.

 

[Merlin]

Woods and Cooks were different players three years ago. I would not take Reed over the Cooks or Woods of last year....I wouldn't even think about it.

How do you know the bolded was due to a lack of confidence? Everett was in more our most critical plays against the Chiefs and Saints in the NFCCG - I really doubt it was a lack of confidence. A lack of skill run blocking perhaps - but you'll get that with almost any receiving TE.

It's fair that he could be a better redzone target.

Not talking about last year, point I was making is that McVay has maximized the wideouts in this scheme, and that if/when Everett shows he is ready McVay will do the same for him. 3 years ago Woods was an underrated nobody and you saw that in the reaction around the league at the contract we signed him for, where people actually felt it was too much. Cooks had a better standing, but he does have weakness in his game and 3 years ago many teams would have taken Reed over him.

Re: the lack of confidence my belief is that IF McVay felt he could win the matchups he gets when he puts Everett in the game, he would have had him in the game and a higher read in the appropriate plays. But Everett was not a factor.

I don't think you or a lot of others here are going to see things my way and as I mentioned before I'm good with that. Bottom line is I hope Everett shows up this season, because having a threat over the middle who can mismatch vs LBs and most safeties would be a huge boost to what is already one of the best offenses in the league.

 

[FrantikRam]

Obviously if he gets better, I'm all for that - but I'll take what he did last year but keep Kupp healthy this time - if that happens nobody is stopping this offense.

 

[Merlin]

I expect some big plays from GE this season but I just don't think we get JR 2015 numbers out of him unless something really bad happens.

I don't see JR 2015 numbers out of him either tbh. What I expect to see from him IF he is ready to take the next step: becoming an early read in redzone and third down situations, first off, which will boost his TDs scored and big play type receptions. Secondly he'll get more time on the field to allow for Goff elevating him to an earlier read if he sees certain matchups (LB or SS), so that should mean a reasonable increase in yardage (somewhere in that 600ish yard range).

IMO Everett adds two things to this offense that are hard to come by with our wideouts: contested catch ability & significant RAC ability. He is extremely tough to bring down when he catches a ball in stride, similar to a RB. Those elements really start to shine vs the better defenses and in the playoffs IMO, where everything is tougher to come by.