When Matthew Stafford was traded to the Los Angeles Rams earlier this offseason, the NFL world lit up. Despite not having much success in the form of winning with the Detroit Lions, Stafford was joining a Rams squad that has their sights on winning a Super Bowl.
Ahead of his debut with Los Angeles in Week 1 versus the Chicago Bears, Stafford can’t wait to throw passes that count to Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods, and DeSean Jackson.
“Robert and Cooper have been doing this in this offense at such a high level for such a long time. It’s really impressive to see them come out with a day like today – just the incredible energy that they have, attention to detail. Both those guys are so dialed in on what we’re trying to do – whether we’re asking them to block, run routes, block for their other receivers. Whatever it is, they’re always just down to execute for our offense,” Stafford said Wednesday. “That’s an awesome thing to have as a quarterback when you have receivers that are willing to do whatever it takes. DeSean is new in this offense. His role is evolving. He has been as good a deep threat as anybody in the NFL for a long time. He still looks like he can run to me and I’m having a bunch of fun working with him. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time, from afar, watching him go over the top on people for years. So, it’s fun to be on the back end of that throwing it to him.”
Woods and Kupp have been on the Rams since 2017, which was the year Sean McVay became the head coach in Los Angeles. While Kupp was a rookie in 2017, Woods joined the Rams as a free agent from the Buffalo Bills. Ever since both of them joined the offense, they’ve been one of the best wide receiver duos in the NFL.
As for Jackson, he joined the Rams this offseason after expressing his desire to play under McVay again. Even though Jackson is now 34 years old and has dealt with injury woes in recent years, he’s a perfect wideout for Stafford to target down the field. It’s clear that Jackson will have a prominent role in the offense as long as he remains healthy.
Besides Kupp, Woods, and Jackson, Stafford will also have Darrell Henderson Jr., Sony Michel, Tyler Higbee, Van Jefferson, and rookie Tutu Atwell available to him in the offense. After sitting out the preseason, Stafford is delighted to work with the assortment of weapons he’s been given in his first year with the Rams, beginning on Sunday night versus the Bears.
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