The Rams didn’t have a pressing need at wide receiver even after trading Brandin Cooks, but they selected Van Jefferson at No. 57 overall with an eye toward the future. Cooper Kupp and Josh Reynolds will both be free agents in 2021, so with Jefferson now on the team, they’re prepared to lose one of the two and still have good depth at wideout.
Jefferson probably won’t contribute much as a rookie unless he blows Reynolds out of the water in their camp competition, but he’ll be in the mix for a starting job in Year 2, most likely. Pro Football Focus still likes his fit with the Rams, though, ranking him seventh among all rookie wideouts in terms of the situations they were drafted into.
Even as the third receiver, Jefferson will be seeing the field. The Rams backed away from their 90%-plus rate of 11 personnel from 2018 a little bit this past year, but they still ran it 73% of the time in 2019. They also had the second-most pass plays of any team in the league (679). Even with a struggling Jared Goff who earned a 72.5 passing grade in 2019, Jefferson is still in as good a situation as he could have hoped for to produce.
Jefferson has a chance to learn from two outstanding route runners in Kupp and Robert Woods, which will only help him perfect his craft even more. He has the speed and talent to be a good No. 2 receiver one day, but he’ll need to really develop a lot in order to be a primary target on offense down the road.
That’s not to say he can’t be a No. 1 receiver because he does have similarities to Keenan Allen, Woods and Kupp, but he doesn’t have elite speed, leaping ability or athleticism.
For fantasy owners, he’s no more than a low-tier flex option in 2020. In dynasty leagues, he’d be a good pickup in the middle rounds with an eye toward the future.