April 19, 2018 02:23PM | Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 16,078 |
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Billy_T
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zn
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Billy_T
Why?
Well, even with the Rams being a high-scoring O, they're not going to have more than, say, four situations a game when they need to worry about endzone matchups. And that's if they don't score from further out, obviously. I'm guessing they'd prefer not to have to set up camp in the redzone to begin with, and just watch Gurley or some one else take it to the house from waaay back, etc.
Okay, so, tops, four times a game. Likely fewer. Draft a receiver with the requisite skill-set. He doesn't have to be "fast." Quick helps. Agile, too. Doesn't need long-speed, though. He should be tall, with long arms, big hands, a serious leaper -- like David Thompson. The whole "catch radius" thingy. He needs to be strong enough to win jump balls consistently. I think a basketball background holds well throughout this list, and the Rams should be checking out all kinds of "off the grid" possibilities.
In short, they don't have to draft a "top wideout" early. They need a specialist. They need a guy who listens to the old-school tape by Bob Johnson, watches it go up in smoke, runs for his life before he's shot by fifty assassins, and makes it to the game on time each Sunday. That's it. I think they can find him in the 6th.
You don't need an endzone receiver to improve RZ offense. For example, which GSOT receiver was an "endzone receiver"? I mean if they had a guy who met that description, cool, but I personally don't like the idea of the RZ offense depending on one particular type of player.
Here's an example and I used it before in a similar discussion. At first in 2012, the Rams had issues with the RZ offense, so over the bye they changed it up. From that point on, Bradford with the Rams was near 50% TDs inside the 10. At the time that was ranked with the top 2-3 in the league. And that was with Schott as the OC and with basically nothing at receiver (except Amendola). You can scheme and design these things regardless of personnel. In fact to me that's the healthier way to do it.
Right now, for 2017 stats, on the same stat (%Touchdowns/Attempt, In 10: [stats.washingtonpost.com] ) Goff is 5th in the league (his numbers: 51.9%, or 14 of 27).
So in fact, whatever the issue is with RZ offense, that's not really the problem---ie. TDs to completions inside the 10. Of course there's more to RZ offense than TD passes inside the 10.
I use that stat btw as contributing to the discussion because someone officially keeps it. (Again, that would be [stats.washingtonpost.com] ). So it's just easy to reference it.
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Not at all suggesting they should "depend" on one particular player. I'm saying they should add a specialist to the mix, and I think they can do that on the cheap.
They're likely to carry five or six receivers, right? So why not make sure at least one of them fits the freakish status I suggest above? Say, 6'5", 225, strong, with elite NBA hops, big hands, long arms . . . all the physical advantages one could want in battling for contested footballs. Of course, if the Rams were loaded with early picks, there's no need to search for some variety of a "one trick pony," cuz they could just draft an "elite" overall receiver . . . one who likely isn't as big, strong, or bouncy, but is much faster, runs the full route tree and better in the aggregate. As in, at least eventually moving Cooks, Woods and Kupp down a notch on the chart.
But they don't have that luxury, and they have much bigger needs. So, they go with the specialist. They go with a guy they can use on occasion, under special circumstances, if Woods, Cooks, Kupp and company aren't open.
Just a thought . . .