WR Roster Spots

[CGI_Ram]

Last year the Rams kept 7 WR’s at cut down.

Atwell, Jefferson, Kupp, and Skowronek are the locks. Does that mean 3 spots are up for grabs?

I think Xavier Smith lands the Brandon Powell spot.

Nacua being a draft pick has an inside track.

Does Lance McCutcheon step up, or does he go the route of Jacob Harris… one and done?

What do you think about our WR unit?

Tutu Atwell WR 5-9 165 10/7/1999 (23) 3 Louisville
Braxton Burmeister WR 6-1 205 9/19/1998 (24) R San Diego St.
Tyler Hudson WR 6-2 197 — R Louisville
Sam James WR 6-0 176 — R West Virginia
Van Jefferson WR 6-1 200 7/26/1996 (26) 4 Florida
Cooper Kupp WR 6-2 208 6/15/1993 (29) 7 E. Washington
Lance McCutcheon WR 6-3 202 2/28/1999 (24) 2 Montana St.
Puka Nacua WR 6-2 205 — R —
Ben Skowronek WR 6-3 224 6/27/1997 (25) 3 Notre Dame
Xavier Smith WR 5-10 170 — R Florida A&M
Austin Trammell WR 5-10 185 7/4/1998 (24) 2 Rice

 

[den-the-coach]

Don't sleep on Austin Trammell, he can return punts & kickoffs too plus is sure handed and runs great routes. Now, I believe Xavier Smith is more likely because he is different from the likes of Kupp, Nacua & Trammell with his 4.38 speed and being twitchy, but Trammell I liked last year and I expect him to show well in preseason.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Don't sleep on Austin Trammell, he can return punts & kickoffs too plus is sure handed and runs great routes. Now, I believe Xavier Smith is more likely because he is different from the likes of Kupp, Nacua & Trammell with his 4.38 speed and being twitchy, but Trammell I liked last year and I expect him to show well in preseason.

The highlights of Xavier Smith that I watched didn’t look like a guy with 4.3 speed. He didn’t accelerate quickly, he was stiff in changing direction and didn’t seem to have great instincts. I don’t think he makes the team.

I wish they had kept Powell

 

[den-the-coach]

The highlights of Xavier Smith that I watched didn’t look like a guy with 4.3 speed. He didn’t accelerate quickly, he was stiff in changing direction and didn’t seem to have great instincts. I don’t think he makes the team.

I wish they had kept Powell

Smith had an impressive run during combine, which took place on Monday morning. According to ESPN's Turron Davenport, scouts clocked his 40-yard dash time as fast as 4.39 or 4.38. The 5'9 receiver had an impressive career in Tallahassee, particularly in his senior season last fall.

Florida A&M NFL Draft prospect Xavier Smith runs sizzling 40 time

Former Florida A&M wide receiver Xavier Smith likely helped his NFL Draft prospects with a blazing fast 40-yard dash.

hbcugameday.com

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Smith had an impressive run during combine, which took place on Monday morning. According to ESPN's Turron Davenport, scouts clocked his 40-yard dash time as fast as 4.39 or 4.38. The 5'9 receiver had an impressive career in Tallahassee, particularly in his senior season last fall.

Florida A&M NFL Draft prospect Xavier Smith runs sizzling 40 time

Former Florida A&M wide receiver Xavier Smith likely helped his NFL Draft prospects with a blazing fast 40-yard dash.

hbcugameday.com

Straight line speed doesn’t always play in the NFL. Kupp ran a 4.6 and his ability to make cuts is special.

I didn’t see that type of body control for lateral movement, quick cuts with Smith. I watched highlights, so I’m assuming that they are his best plays.

 

[den-the-coach]

Straight line speed doesn’t always play in the NFL. Kupp ran a 4.6 and his ability to make cuts is special.

I didn’t see that type of body control for lateral movement, quick cuts with Smith. I watched highlights, so I’m assuming that they are his best plays.

He looked fast to me and he runs the jet sweeps too, which Powell ran. The one thing I loved about Powell most was his ball security and the ability to catch the football even on the short punts as we have seen multiple returners have issues with those.

Another WR Sam James might get a look, but again, he has only returned kickoffs not punts and that is a huge adjustment. I would be confident in Austin Trammell getting the PR/KR gig, but his ball security would be the advantage plus taking what was given, not sure how many he would break.

 

[thirteen28]

Trammell with his 4.38 speed and being twitchy

And that last part is the important part, because it's the cowbell of football.

 

[Flatlyner]

I'd think Puka is a lock to make it IMO. He brings some exciting things that the others don't (and they used draft capital). Lance probably makes it due to experience in the system. The last spot I feel goes to the guy who shows the most in the returns and special teams department, be that Smith, Trammel, etc.

 

[Psycho_X]

I couldn't find where Smith really returned kicks all that much. He did it a handful of times but wasn't a full on return guy or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place? Will have to see if that is something he can pickup and be reliable at. We know McVay cares more about reliability catching and holding onto the ball than he does their ability to run with it. It does look like Smith is not a fumbler in college at least so that's promising.

 

[Mojo Ram]

Just want to say that I really wanted Powell to be kept. I understand it was never going to happen.

The dude was small but fearless, twitchy, fast and had a competitive motor. Decent hands. A little dog of a football player.

If Tutu can become fearless and find that competitive drive we’ll be fine but I have my doubts.

 

[Merlin]

Last season had a very weak TE room. This year it's still iffy but better I think and that might affect the WR totals depending on who is slated for which role. Basically in McVay's offense if you have receivers running backfield shit and lead blocking out of motion (Skow being the current example), much of which is that F type TE role, that is going to factor in to the final cuts.

I think starting out you have three guys who are really important for this season in Kupp, Jefferson, and Atwell. Ideally they're your top 3 guys. Of the three Kupp logs a ton of snaps in the slot. I think he can play all three WR spots, because he's about impossible to jam, but if he's on the sideline as an X it's going to cut down his route options. As effective as he is inside it's hard to move him basically. So let's say he's in that slot (Y) role.

This means the other role that can be moved around and is off the LOS has to be used for Atwell (Z) to help him avoid being jammed up. And by process of elimination that means Jefferson needs to be in our X role, while McVay can move Kupp & Atwell around as needed for whatever he's cooking up. From there the depth is sort of obvious too I think, again with Z & Y being interchangeable.

So I'm thinking...

X: Jefferson / McCutcheon
Y: Kupp / Nacua
Z: Atwell / Skow

Looking at that six what we lack is speed on the depth chart. Not the worst thing, I mean it's a solid group led by a HoF slot weapon. And Kupp specifically can play all over I think as well, which gives you some more flexibility. So any of these depth types who can show well in preseason and bring some speed and shakes for the depth will have a good chance, seeing as how the above still might have a spot open.

But returner is gonna factor in too. So ideally whoever wins that role also shows some speed for us outside. But regardless I think returner wins that seventh role, if it's gonna be seven for the group which, who knows.

The position most up for grabs among that primary depth is McCutcheon's spot. He's the guy being gunned for here I think, for many of these guys. So Hudson for example, who is going to compete for that spot due to his talents, plus you'll have guys like James and Burmeister trying to show they can get off that LOS outside because that's their best ticket onto the team.

 

[WestCoastRam]

It will be interesting for sure. Keeping 7 is a luxury in some ways and might put us back to just keeping 2 TEs like last year. (I'll let you guess who those 2 TEs will be)

As @CGI_Ram stated, the top 4 are set, Nacua (if he stays healthy) will have every chance to make the roster. And in an ideal world we only would need to keep 6 saving spots for elsewhere so that would mean that McCutcheon would be the odd man out for a returner (unless that comes from the RB room).

Gonna be interesting to see what happens. I would have to guess McCutcheon would need to take another step to keep him on the 53. You can't stow a guy there who's plateaued and with all the injuries last year, it was interesting that he didn't get more of a look.

 

[snackdaddy]

Kupp and Jefferson are the obvious WR1 and WR2. Either Skow or Atwell will be the WR3. My guess is Skow. He can do a few more things with his blocking ability and knowledge. Atwell will be the guy who can stretch the field. After that its anyone's guess. McCutcheon was a preseason star. But when the season came around he wasn't active on game days. Maybe he breaks through?

 

[HX76]

This is all well and good but where does Nelson Spruce fit in?

 

[WestCoastRam]

Last season had a very weak TE room. This year it's still iffy but better I think and that might affect the WR totals depending on who is slated for which role. Basically in McVay's offense if you have receivers running backfield shit and lead blocking out of motion (Skow being the current example), much of which is that F type TE role, that is going to factor in to the final cuts.

I think starting out you have three guys who are really important for this season in Kupp, Jefferson, and Atwell. Ideally they're your top 3 guys. Of the three Kupp logs a ton of snaps in the slot. I think he can play all three WR spots, because he's about impossible to jam, but if he's on the sideline as an X it's going to cut down his route options. As effective as he is inside it's hard to move him basically. So let's say he's in that slot (Y) role.

This means the other role that can be moved around and is off the LOS has to be used for Atwell (Z) to help him avoid being jammed up. And by process of elimination that means Jefferson needs to be in our X role, while McVay can move Kupp & Atwell around as needed for whatever he's cooking up. From there the depth is sort of obvious too I think, again with Z & Y being interchangeable.

So I'm thinking...

X: Jefferson / McCutcheon
Y: Kupp / Nacua
Z: Atwell / Skow

Looking at that six what we lack is speed on the depth chart. Not the worst thing, I mean it's a solid group led by a HoF slot weapon. And Kupp specifically can play all over I think as well, which gives you some more flexibility. So any of these depth types who can show well in preseason and bring some speed and shakes for the depth will have a good chance, seeing as how the above still might have a spot open.

But returner is gonna factor in too. So ideally whoever wins that role also shows some speed for us outside. But regardless I think returner wins that seventh role, if it's gonna be seven for the group which, who knows.

The position most up for grabs among that primary depth is McCutcheon's spot. He's the guy being gunned for here I think, for many of these guys. So Hudson for example, who is going to compete for that spot due to his talents, plus you'll have guys like James and Burmeister trying to show they can get off that LOS outside because that's their best ticket onto the team.

Good point about the TE room. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Y receiver considered in NFL offenses the in-line TE. X is the on the line receiver. F, the off the line receiver and Slot the slot.

I would also argue that Nacua would probably compete for play at X and Z, mostly Z, providing the Woods role and able to run jet sweeps, end-arounds, etc... from the boundary or in close to line. I'm sure he could play some slot too but my guess is they start him at backing up Z. Jefferson can play X but I suspect he starts at Z for us with Skow at X as it looked like he played there quite a bit for us at the end of last year and Jefferson long stride can benefit from a free release. Atwell is a square peg in a round hole and you probably have him at Z situationally which creates an issue with who plays X (you'd almost want Jefferson there instead of Skow but then you're asking guys to play a lot of positions). I know you're not suggesting this but I think some people think cause Atwell is small and has good straight line speed, that he'd be good in the slot but he's below average there as his change of direction is pretty meh. He's probably only a Z, period.

I think it bares saying that it really is a lot to learn all three or even two receiver positions and you need a pretty exceptional guy to do that mentally (see Kupp) so it's helpful to really think who's starting where (X, Z, slot) and who most likely backs up elsewhere.

Best case scenario, I suspect, with the group we have now: Jefferson at X (not his best spot but his best spot with this starting three), Kupp in the slot and Nacua (stays healthy and is a clone of Woods) as the Z. This would give us the most optionality play in and play out and would most resemble our offenses from 17-21.

Most likely scenario: Skow at X, Kupp at slot, Jefferson at Z.

Atwell just sucks cause to get him on the field you have to subtract a strength of the receiver core elsewhere. Ugh. If Jefferson is smart enough, he can play both Z and X which would allow him to bump over to X and Atwell to come in at Z at times.

 

[I like Rams]

All I know, regardless of who makes it, Stafford has no excuses this season on getting other receivers involved.

 

[Corbin]

Let's be honest past our top 3 WR's we aren't that good at WR.

TuTu is a hopeful projection, he hasn't shown a thing.

I see some are high on Xavier Smith which is cool but we don't need 2 Tutu's on our WR corps. At the very least if he replaced Tutu on the roster and returned kicks and punts I'd be ecstatic to at least get some type of return and production.

I'm excited about McCutcheon but can he produce during games? That's the question.

I'm totally floored how we didn't go after any UDFA WR like
Matt Landers Arkansas 6'4 200 lbs 4.37 40 1.51 10 yard Guess who got him? Seattle
Dontay Demus jr. Maryland 6'3 212 lbs 4.57 40 1.55 10 yard Ravens

We picked up as UDFA's

Braxton Burmeister 6'0 205 converted from a QB SDSU
Sam James 5'11 176 WVU Below average Production
Tyler Hudson 6'2 197 Lou No Production
Xavier Smith 5'9 174 FLA&M Great Production, tiny, fast asf, bad competition


I want to know who the fuck is in charge of our UDFA scouting and picking them up? Seriously? The Seagulls are loaded with WR talent and depth and no way in hell should they beat us to the punch on a WR prospect. We are failing on late or UDFA talent and I'm starting to realize the depth of how great Brad Holmes was for us.

 

[snackdaddy]

This is all well and good but where does Nelson Spruce fit in?

SPRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE!!!

 

[Selassie I]

I'm expecting Puka to do well.
You can never have too many Samoans on your team.

Since we brought him into the Ramily, I have been looking for a new Real puka shell necklace. I had a killer one that I got when I still lived in The 808... but it broke back in my college days. Still shopping for one... but I will finally have a replacement sometime soon.

 

[Memento]

I think our tight end/wide receiver/running back room is split 3/7/4. Personally, I’d cut Hopkins, but they could very well cut/trade Higbee to save cap. I don’t think McCutcheon is in danger of losing his spot unless he underperforms. That leaves the UDFAs competing for that seventh spot, most likely a returner. Trammell is the incumbent, but he’s not nearly dynamic enough as a returner.

Sam James and Xavier Smith are the main ones, but I wouldn’t sleep on Braxton Burmeister; he’s a blazing-fast former quarterback whose GPS exceeded Gurley’s (Burmeister reached 22 mph). If Burmeister proves he can return, we could see him crack this roster.