Different coaches value different things

I think in some ways the Cooks vs. Watkins thing boils down to this: Snead went out and got the best WR he could get at the time to help bolster this offense,. and that WR was Watkins. The cost was a player who wasn't going to play much and a 2nd round pick.....but the contract price was affordable.

Why didn't they get Cooks instead of Watkins? He wasn't available.

Besides, until the 2017 season happened, the Rams and McVay couldn't really know what they had.

As it turns out, they had the ingredients for a much better offense than anyone could have imagined.

After 2017 we learned this much: Woods could run any route, play any of the WR positions, had far more speed than we thought, is a good reliable route runner, and is truly versatile. We also learned that Kupp was a real find and while he can play most of the WR positions, he is probably best suited to the slot. There he is a precise route runner, smart, gets open, makes plays. Again pretty versatile. One would expect his versatility to widen as a 2nd year guy.

Watkins added a lot to the Rams offense. However he is a purely outside WR. His best routes were slants and go routes. He isn't good at double move routes, or comebacks, because he's too thick and big to be quick enough to make those work. And he doesn't work to get open on broken plays; I don't say this as a shot at him, it's just not how he's wired and like Anquan Boldin, his size makes scrambling around pretty difficult as compared to smaller more nimble guys.

Clearly, after having Watkins a year, the Rams made a value decision and decided that the going rate was more than they wanted to spend on Watkins but I think mostly because he just didn't provide the versatility that McVay sought. He wasn't the fit they were looking for. Then Cooks came available and they pounced.

Any argument that the Rams didn't know how much the WR market would be, or that because Watkins came late it was unfair to expect him to pick up the nuances of the offense, are dubious. Of course the Rams knew the market; you can't manage a cap if you don't. And Watkins was a vet so picking up a new offense shouldn't have been all that difficult. I think McVay used Watkins about like Watkins can be used. Perhaps Andy Reid will get something out of him that neither Buffalo or LA could.

It is Cooks versatility that McVay covets. He can operate at any WR position, run jet sweeps, can run the entire route tree, scrambles to get open on broken plays because he's quick and nimble. His long speed and short area quickness are Tavon Austin like but in a bigger package with true WR skills.

I haven't a clue why the Saints and then New England were OK to part with him. But it's not like they gave him away; both times it took a 1st round pick. I can only assume that he wasn't the ideal fit for what either was looking for because his production, skill level, and professional attitude were very good. Clearly McVay thinks Cooks is the ideal fit for his schemes and only time will tell if McVay was correct.

In the end the Rams wind up with 1 possession type slot WR who is unusually nimble and clever, 1 very fast reliable versatile WR, and 1 super fast versatile WR who can take the top off most any defense as their starters. These are now proven guys and the Rams have, in my opinion, perhaps the best group of starting WRs in the NFC. Add Gurley to the mix (and clearly McVay wants a versatile R and perhaps Everett and the Rams should be able to do almost anything on Offense and do it well.

And this versatility is the key to McVay's offense and what he values the most.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2018 04:27AM by RockRam.