Meet the Rams: A receiver group led by Kenny Britt and Tavon Austin can only improve in 2016
As the Rams get to work at training camp at UC Irvine, we’ll take a look at the team’s roster, position by position. Today, the receivers:
One-dimensionality on offense equals mediocrity in the NFL.
Perhaps no Rams position group will face greater pressure to improve this season than their receivers after posting NFL lows in receiving yards per game (175) and touchdowns (11).
Meanwhile, rookie running back Todd Gurley was running wild on opposing defenses for 1,106 yards — the third-most overall — and had 10 total touchdowns in just 13 games.
The result: a mediocre 7-9 record with no postseason berth for the Rams, 11 years running.
Meet the Rams: Defensive line »
It’s also been almost a decade since a Rams player eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards. You have to go back to 2007 when a 31-year-old Torry Holt, a holdover from the “Greatest Show on Turf,” caught 93 balls for 1,119 yards.
Last season, veteran wideout Kenny Britt led the Rams in receiving yards (681) while Tavon Austin caught the most passes (52).
To improve the passing game, the Rams brought in Mike Groh, who spent the last three years with the Chicago Bears, to be the team’s receivers coach/passing-game coordinator.
No. 18 Kenny Britt, 6-foot-3, 223 pounds
At 27, Britt is entering his eighth season in the league and the final year of his contract with the Rams. Britt has the physical attributes of a big-time outside receiver, but hasn’t quite lived up to the expectations set by his 13th overall selection in the 2009 draft by the Tennessee Titans.
Under Coach Jeff Fisher in Tennessee, Britt had back-to-back 700-plus-yard seasons his first two years in the league before he was slowed by a slew of injuries (hamstring, ankle, torn ACL, MCL).
While his 681 receiving yards aren’t elite (47th-most last season), it does represent a resurgence of sorts for Britt since reuniting with Fisher on the Rams. In 2014, Britt caught a career-high 48 passes for 748 yards after posting totals of 289, 589 and 96 yards in his final three years with the Titans.
Britt doesn’t have corner-burning speed, but he’s still the Rams’ primary big-play threat, averaging 18.9 yards per catch and leading the team with 24 catches of more than 20 yards over the last two years.
Though in that same period he’s had just three games with more than 100 yards and eight with less than 25.
No. 11 Tavon Austin, 5-foot-8, 176 pounds
When it comes to speed, Austin is No. 1. The former eighth-overall pick out of West Virginia can be hard to stop once he gets his legs moving. It’s why they call him “Tay-Awesome.”
Last season, the 25-year-old led the Rams with 52 catches while gaining 336 of his 473 total receiving yards after the catch. Add in his 434 rushing yards plus his 280 punt and kick return yards and Austin jumps off the page as one of the team’s most dangerous offensive weapons.
Austin will be all over the field as the Rams look to increase his workload even more this season.
Look for him to catch passes in the flat, take the ball on end-arounds, reverses line up at each receiver position and get the ball out of the wildcat formation.
Austin’s biggest run last season was a 60-yard dash up the right side of the field on a handoff from running back Todd Gurley.
No. 83 Brian Quick, 6-foot-3, 218 pounds
Quick has made just 16 starts for the Rams over four seasons, partly because of his development as a receiver and also because he nearly lost his career to injury in his third season.
He made six while appearing in 15 and 16 games his first two years in the league, jumping out for career highs in 2014 before he suffered a dislocated shoulder and torn rotator cuff in Week 7.
His return In 2015 was less than stellar. He appeared in 13 games, but was only on the field for 36.5% of the Rams’ offensive snaps, according to Football Outsiders. Still, he managed 10 catches for 102 yards.
This season, Quick, 27, is playing with a one-year deal he signed in March plus the chip on his shoulder to prove the Rams didn’t waste the No. 33 pick in 2012 on the receiver out of Appalachian State.
No. 15 Bradley Marquez, 5-foot-10, 196 pounds
Marquez, 23, signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent out of Texas Tech last season and made one start while appearing in all 16 games. He caught 13 of his 22 targets for 88 yards.
Marquez earned playing time with the special teams unit, where he made a crucial recovery of an onside kick during an overtime of a victory against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 1. As a special teamer he also notched 10 tackles and forced two fumbles.
A reformed baseball outfielder, Marquez was drafted by the New York Mets in the 16th round of 2011 out of high school and played minor-league ball during the summers while at Texas Tech until before his senior year so that he could focus on football.
No. 10 Pharoh Cooper, 5-foot-11, 207 pounds
Cooper, 21, was a first-team All-SEC wide receiver as a sophomore and a junior with the Gamecocks. He amassed 973 receiving yards on 66 catches and had nine total touchdowns and threw for a score.
He’s had experience running the ball as well, rushing for 513 yards in three seasons at South Carolina, helping to earn him first-team and two second-team All-SEC recognitions as an all-purpose back.
Other receivers: No. 13 Mike Thomas (Southern Mississippi), No. 86 Nelson Spruce (Colorado), No. 8 Paul McRoberts (Southeast Missouri State), No. 3 Marquez North (Tennessee), No. 81 Duke Williams (Auburn)
Follow Matt Wilhalme on Twitter @mattwilhalme
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