Rams tight ends, particularly rookie Gerald Everett, will try to back up big talk

Rams tight ends, particularly rookie Gerald Everett, will try to back up big talk

By RICH HAMMOND

Rams’ Tyler Higbee, right, and Maurice Alexander are seen during a training camp practice at Crawford Field in UCI in Irvine on Sunday, July 30, 2017. (Photo by Kyusung Gong, Orange County Register/SCNG)

IRVINE — There’s been some rookie hazing at Rams training camp, but it’s good-natured and, really, tight end Gerald Everett brought it upon himself with a moment of harmless hubris.

“Every time he does something wrong I always give him grief,” Coach Sean McVay said this week. “I say, ‘I don’t know, would Jordan Reed or Vernon Davis have done that?’”

Everett, the Rams’ second-round draft pick in April, raised eyebrows last week when he told reporters that he and fellow tight end Tyler Higbee “could be better than” the prolific Washington duo of Reed and Davis, who combined for eight touchdowns and almost 1,300 yards last season.

Told that he had set a lofty goal, Everett said, “Yeah, it is. I am pretty confident in us.”

Everett has viewed the game film from Washington, where McVay worked as offensive coordinator for the previous three seasons. McVay adores his tight ends and views them as valuable, versatile tools that can help break down a defense, and he likely will bring that philosophy to the Rams as their play-caller.

That’s good news for Higbee, a fourth-round draft pick who underachieved in 2016 after a stellar preseason, and Everett, whose college play indicated that he has skills like a receiver.

Look for the Rams to throw the ball to tight ends much more often, and to go to more two tight-end sets. McVay believes that Higbee (6-foot-6, 257 pounds) and Everett (6-3, 245) can be matchup nightmares.

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