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Factoid

LA Rams

Los Angeles offense features wide receivers

I notice that the Rams heavily featured their wide receivers last year. They not only pass a lot, but the vast majority of those balls go to the wide receivers.

If we look at just wide receivers, the Rams led the league last year in every receiving category – catches, yards and touchdowns.

It helps having Cooper Kupp, of course, but the Rams got to almost 4,000 yards when including their other wide receivers.

COMBINED CATCHES BY WIDE RECEIVERS
TeamNoYardsAvgTD
LA Rams2863,96413.932
Buffalo2843,29911.622
Tampa Bay2823,50312.426
Dallas2553,34713.125
LA Chargers2523,17112.622
Pittsburgh2502,74711.012
Arizona2503,07312.320
Kansas City2442,82011.620
Minnesota2403,18113.329
Green Bay2403,08612.927
Cincinnati2363,55115.025
Jacksonville2282,50711.09
Las Vegas2232,88913.016
NY Jets2222,64911.914
Baltimore2162,42011.210
Miami2072,24410.814
Houston2032,46312.115
Detroit2032,32611.513
Carolina1962,25711.510
Tennessee1942,43512.613
New England1932,39612.412
Seattle1912,61113.725
Chicago1852,40813.011
Washington1842,21812.110
San Francisco1812,77715.317
NY Giants1802,16312.05
Indianapolis1772,18412.316
Denver1712,25713.28
Atlanta1591,73610.99
New Orleans1552,14113.816
Philadelphia1491,99313.411
Cleveland1411,87313.37

At the same time, the Rams did not use their other positions much in the passing game. They finished with top-5 passing numbers overall, but they were the only team in the league that didn’t reach 1,000 receiving yards with their backs and tight ends. Los Angeles completed a league-low 120 passes to those positions.

Tyler Higbee was one of those guys. I think he’s a decent enough pass catcher, but they just didn’t use him much.

The Rams get Cam Akers back this year, and he catches better than the backs they were featuring last year. Akers had 8 catches in his four playoff games. But the Rams completed a league-low 53 passes to running backs last year, and their running backs caught even fewer passes in the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

It’s a receiver-heavy offense.

COMBINED CATCHES BY BACKS AND TIGHT ENDS
TeamNoYardsAvgTD
Kansas City2032,11910.417
Atlanta2182,25110.311
Tampa Bay2101,8809.017
LA Chargers1911,8439.616
Las Vegas2061,9199.37
Cleveland1791,7359.714
Dallas1881,6158.614
Baltimore1801,84710.311
Denver1821,5988.812
New England1711,70210.012
Miami1941,6988.86
Detroit1901,5378.19
Washington1711,5308.911
San Francisco1621,66010.29
Green Bay1611,4449.012
Pittsburgh1751,2707.311
Philadelphia1571,58710.18
Arizona1651,5399.37
NY Giants1691,2827.69
Tennessee1641,3048.09
Indianapolis1461,4029.610
Cincinnati1481,2558.511
New Orleans1341,2449.313
Chicago1561,3668.87
Buffalo1311,1518.814
Minnesota1571,2487.95
Carolina1521,3168.74
Houston1511,1677.76
NY Jets1341,3099.85
Seattle1331,2049.15
Jacksonville1331,1678.83
LA Rams1209297.79

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index