Here’s den-the-coach...
The Time Is Now For Reynolds
When they announced his name last season most of us thought highly of the pick as Reynolds proved to be a nice red zone target at 6’3 for the Aggies of Texas A&M and had a decent 40 time too. Add in some solid play in preseason (last year) and all seemed like another thoroughbred in the stable of Wide Receivers in Southern California, however, so far, the review have been mixed at best.
Injuries derailed some development last season as Reynolds slight frame seems to make him more susceptible to injuries or like that Jaguar Vehicle in the garage, that just never seems fine-tuned. Reynolds came in after the injuries to Cooks & Kupp against the Seahawks and gave us some hope. Goff looked his way and Reynolds made some big catches in limited action, but towards the end of the game was not getting open. And then when Kupp went down last week against Denver, enter Josh Reynolds and all I could think about was the song “Slip Sliding Away.”
Reynolds a Texas Native seemed to be a tender foot on the damp soil of Colorado and of course one pass that was thrown in his direction was tipped into his face mask, which led to a Bronco interception with Reynolds looking aloof as to how it happened. What I love about Cooper Kupp is his ability to sit in the soft zones and get open, from the neck up there is none better than Kupp.
Josh Reynolds will not be in the slot come Sunday against San Francisco, so this will give him his chance to stretch the field and offer a Red Zone target with fade patterns that the Rams have been missing, but will Reynolds have the ability to locate the football at it highest point and leap to grab it, or will he not even know the ball is intended for him and give that “Deer in Head Light Look.” like he did on that fake punt pass from Hekker?
WR Coach Eric Yarber has had it somewhat easy with the likes of Watkins, Cooks, Woods & Kupp, but what of the others? Reynolds, Hodge and now Nick Smith. Sean McVay wanted someone who knew is offense, is that because Josh Reynolds lacks the mental capacity to digest the playbook? Who knows, but come Sunday we will get to see if Reynolds rises to the occasion and provides the Los Angeles Rams with another dependable target and make us as fans worry less as the next man up comes through or will we be shaking our head and wondering why Reynolds is underwhelming? Coming out of college his strengths was toughness, work ethic and football intelligence, but none of us have seen that translate to the field and The Time is Now for Reynolds.
