St. Louis Rams Lack of Wide Receiver Talent a Serious Concern

By Curt Popejoy | Aug 21, 2015

As the St. Louis Rams inch closer to the start of the NFL regular season, there are still some significant issues to be concerned with. The Rams primary concern centers around the continuing problems with the talent at wide receiver.

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68 receivers in the NFL caught at least 50 passes in 2014. The bad news is that none of those wide receivers are on the list above. Britt was the best receiver on the team last season, and he was only able to haul in 48 passes. More than two players per team on average in the league caught 50, but St. Louis didn’t have one.

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In fact, to put things in greater perspective, St. Louis was the only team in the league in 2014 not to have a wide receiver with at least 50 receptions. Even the lowly New York Jets, that failed to throw for 3,000 yards as a team had one. And even the Kansas City Chiefs, that went all season without a touchdown to a wide receiver had one.

However, Rams head coach Fisher might not feel a need to panic. The last time Fisher had a winning record, the Tennessee Titans went 13-3 back in 2008. And in that year, no Titans wide receiver caught 50 passes. He did it that season with a smothering defense and two-headed ground game. Unfortunately, this is not 2008.

Here is the current group of wide receivers the Rams have on their roster.

Kenny Britt

Tavon Austin

Chris Givens

Brian Quick

Stedman Bailey

Emory Hunt

Isiah Ferguson

Damian Williams

Bradley Marquez

Daniel Rodriguez

Tyler Slavin

If the Rams really have playoff aspirations, there has to be a weapon in the passing game that forces coverage to their side. If opposing defenses never have to roll a safety to help with a particular player, it really hinders the matchups in the ground game. St. Louis is working hard to re-tool this group to run the football, but will see more eight-man fronts without a viable weapon downfield.

There’s no quick fix for it this season. With multiple rookies getting up to speed on the line, the run game is not going to be able to set up the pass. Let me back up, initially this will be the case. Quarterback Nick Foles is going to line up with no No. 1 option at wide receiver, and have to make due. Could the Rams take a shot on free-agent wide receiver Reggie Wayne, or perhaps reach out to a team to work a trade?

Both those options seem unlikely. Instead it is going to be a season of more short passes, ultra-conservative passing and an offense ill-prepared to hang with the high-powered offenses of the NFL. Perhaps a full season of Britt will be the spark this offense needs. Or Austin will finally turn into the electrifying playmaker the Rams thought they were getting when they drafted him.

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