Tag: Tyler Higbee

Who will be Rams’ biggest red-zone threat in 2020?

Cooper Kupp had the highest target share in the red zone last year. Will that continue?

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The tallest wide receiver on the Rams roster is Josh Reynolds, who’s 6-foot-3 and a slender 196 pounds. His frame doesn’t exactly scream “jump-ball specialist,” nor is he all that physical at the catch point.

Cooper Kupp is 6-foot-2, with Robert Woods an even 6 feet and rookie Van Jefferson 6-1. Clearly, the Rams lack height and leaping ability in their receiving corps, which can create challenges in the red zone.

They don’t have a Dez Bryant-type who can go up and win jump balls. They don’t have a DeAndre Hopkins, whose hands are as sticky as glue, even on contested catches.

The Rams’ shorter wideouts haven’t caused any problems inside the 20-yard line, as they’ve been one of the most efficient red-zone teams in the league lately. Last season, they scored touchdowns on 64.4% of their red-zone trips, which was sixth in the NFL.

The departure of Brandin Cooks won’t hurt that number, but Todd Gurley’s release could lead to some struggles when the Rams get close to the end zone. According to Pro Football Focus, Gurley had the fourth-best touchdown rate on carries inside the 5-yard line last year, scoring 53% of the time.

So with Gurley gone and the Rams lacking a true red-zone threat, who will step up? The most obvious answer is Kupp.

He’s not the biggest receiver around, but his route running allows him to get open for Jared Goff. And as difficult as it is to shake loose in the close quarters of the red zone, Kupp finds ways to do exactly that.

And when Goff throws him the ball in the end zone, more often than not, it’ll go for six. Kupp was far and away the best receiver on end-zone targets last year, scoring a touchdown on 83% of such plays – 12% higher than any other receiver.

On his 18 targets in the red zone last year, Kupp caught 13 passes for seven touchdowns – an impressive catch rate of 72.2%, which ranked 15th among all players with at least 10 red-zone targets. Inside the 10-yard line, Kupp caught 8-of-10 targets for six touchdowns – tied for the most scores of any player.

His target share of 28.6% inside the 10-yard line was tops on the Rams and ranked sixth in the NFL. For comparison, Tyler Higbee was second on the team at 25.7%, while Cooks was targeted on just 14.3% of Goff’s passes inside the 10. Surprisingly, Woods was even further down the list, tied with Gerald Everett at 11.4%. That’s partly why Woods only had two touchdowns last year.

Will we see a similar target share next season? Or will someone overtake Kupp? It’s likely Kupp will remain No. 1, but expect Higbee’s share to stay relatively high.

He’s the third-tallest player on the team at 6-foot-6 and his catch radius is large. His hands aren’t the most reliable, but if he can simply box out defenders and give Goff a nice target, he can rack up the touchdowns in 2020.

Goff and the pass-catchers will need to step up in the red zone next season with Gurley out of the picture. Sure, Cam Akers and Malcolm Brown could prove effective near the goal line, but Gurley had a nose for the end zone.

If the Rams throw the ball more often inside the 20, expect Kupp and Higbee to be the ones getting the bulk of the targets.

How the Rams’ offense will change after trading Brandin Cooks

The Rams traded Brandin Cooks on Thursday, which indicates a philosophy change on offense.

For the last three years, the Los Angeles Rams have relied heavily on 11 personnel. The grouping consists of three wide receivers, one running back and one tight end on the field, spreading the defense out and forcing them to utilize more defensive backs.

In 2017 and 2018, the Rams took advantage of this by throwing it successfully out of 11 personnel, while Todd Gurley also gashed defenses against lighter boxes with fewer linebackers in the middle. That wasn’t the case last season, though, as the entire Rams offense struggled no matter what personnel grouping it was in.

At the end of the year, Los Angeles found some semblance of consistency – but not out of 11 personnel. Instead, Sean McVay called for much more 12 personnel, getting two tight ends (Tyler Higbee and Johnny Mundt) on the field more often. That may have been the start of a mentality shift in L.A., and part of the reason for Brandin Cooks being traded.

The Rams no longer have three proven wide receivers to lean on, even though Josh Reynolds has established himself as a quality No. 4 option. In turn, their offense is going to change and likely steer away from a heavy reliance on 11 personnel.

In 2017, with Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, the Rams led the NFL in 11 personnel usage at 80%. In 2018 when Cooks arrived, they used 11 personnel even more, leading the league again at 89%; the next-closest team used it only 77% of the time.

Last season, the Rams shifted away from it slightly, trotting 11 personnel out there 73% of the time, tied for third in the NFL. McVay realized that teams were catching onto his scheme and diversified, particularly late in the year with a more run-heavy approach. It’s very likely that game plan will carry over into the 2020 season.

Expect to see more plays with Higbee and Gerald Everett on the field together, which didn’t happen often last year or the previous two seasons. McVay said recently that he needs to get Everett more involved, and now the door is wide open for that to happen.

“Really, really excited about what Gerald Everett’s going to do,” McVay said Monday. “I think Tyler Higbee did a phenomenal job, but I think Gerald Everett’s a guy that I’ve got to do a better job of utilizing his skill set because he’s a difference-maker. But he’s got to get the opportunities and I think that starts with some of the things I know I can do a better job of.”

As comfortable as the Rams are with their wide receivers blocking on the edge, having two tight ends on the field – both of whom can line up anywhere – will help the running game. There was evidence of that last season against the Bears when the Rams used 12 personnel 34 times and vaulted Todd Gurley to his best game of the year.

A few weeks later in their dominant 28-12 win over the Seahawks, the Rams steered even further away from 11 personnel. Higbee played 97% of the snaps, and Mundt was out there for 72% of the plays. Cooks and Kupp only played 38% and 28%, respectively. According to Rich Hammond of The Athletic, they used 12 personnel 71% of the time, the most ever by McVay with the Rams.

This isn’t to say the Rams are going to use it that often next season, but they had four healthy wide receivers in that game against Seattle and still utilized their tight ends more than ever. With Woods and Kupp being the only starting wide receivers returning in 2020, it’ll be easy for McVay to get his tight ends more snaps.

The Rams want to get back to being a run-first team, which they certainly weren’t in 2019. General manager Les Snead has said it multiple times since the end of the season, most recently this week on a conference call with reporters.

“It’s up to all of us in the organization, all the way down to the players, to make sure that we do a better job in ’20 than we did in ’19 of running the ball, being more balanced so we can get back to more like who we were in ’18 and ’19 and in the back-half of ’19,” Snead said.

All indications point toward the Rams being more focused on running the ball, and they had a more success doing that at the end of 2019 with two tight ends on the field than they did earlier in the year. That’s not to ignore what Gurley did out of 11 personnel in 2017 and 2018, but McVay and Snead have really put an emphasis on running the ball – and the trading of Cooks follows in line with that thinking.

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4 things to know about new Jets OT George Fant

Here are four things to know about ex-Seahawks and new Jets offensive lineman George Fant, who signed a three-year deal on Monday.

While the Jets’ first move of the legal tampering wasn’t a flashy one, it was one that needed to be made.

With Joe Thuney and Brandon Scherff franchise tagged by the Patriots and Redskins, respectively, and Jack Conklin and Graham Glasgow signing elsewhere, the Jets needed to add to their offensive line. In came George Fant.

Joe Douglas opted to sign the former Seahawks swing tackle to a three-year deal worth $27.3 million. The Jets can get out of the deal after one-year, so it’s essentially a one-year deal, worth $9.25 million.

Fant is a bit of an enigma. According to Pro Football Focus, he was the 62nd-ranked tackle last year among those that played 20 percent of snaps. However, he’s young, versatile and coming off a season in which he was successful in limited opportunities. Clearly, the Jets are banking on his potential after missing out on their top targets.

With that said, let’s get to know the Jets’ latest addition to the offensive line.

Basketball Background

(Joshua Lindsey-USA TODAY Sports)

George Fant had a four-year standout basketball career at Western Kentucky University before transitioning to football.

Throughout his first four years at Western Kentucky, Fant was urged to join the school’s football team, but he refused. He received multiple letters from NFL teams trying to gauge his interest in 2015, but he tossed the letters away.

Fant used his fifth year of collegiate eligibility to play football after weighing his options after college. He joined the Western Kentucky football team to play tight end, where he played one season. He appeared in two games with one reception for seven yards on offense and a pair of tackles on defense.

Following the 2015 season, Fant bulked up, going from 270 pounds to 296 pounds, and become an offensive lineman. He wound up impressing the Seahawks front office at the Hilltoppers’ pro day.

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What does Rams’ interest in TEs mean for Gerald Everett and Tyler Higbee?

The Rams are meeting with tight end prospects, which could spell bad news for Everett or Higbee.

Hints can always be taken based on which prospects teams are meeting with leading up to the NFL draft. For the Los Angeles Rams, two positions have stood out as somewhat surprising.

Not only did they meet with a handful of running backs at the combine last month, but they’re also showing a clear interest in tight ends. In recent months, they’ve met with several players at the position, both draft prospects and free agents.

The Rams reportedly discussed signing Jordan Reed, who was released by the Redskins this offseason after clearing the league’s concussion protocol. They met with Purdue’s Brycen Hopkins at the Senior Bowl before he put together an impressive performance at the combine. And just this week, they met with two more tight ends in the Pacific Northwest: Oregon’s Jacob Breeland and Oregon State’s Noah Togiai.

It’s obvious the Rams are interested in adding reinforcements to the tight end room, even if not for a high cost in free agency or early in the draft. So what does this all mean for their current group of tight ends? That’s a good question.

Tyler Higbee finished the 2019 season with a stunningly productive stretch of five games, topping 100 yards in four of them. In total, Higbee caught 69 passes for 734 yards and three touchdowns last season.

Gerald Everett ended the year in a very different way. After injuring his knee in Week 11 against the Ravens, Everett didn’t catch a pass the rest of the season. He missed three games and played just four offensive snaps in the final two weeks as the Rams kept him on the sidelines. His final tally? In 13 games, he caught 37 passes for 408 yards and two touchdowns.

Higbee and Everett entered the 2020 offseason in polar opposite ways. Higbee finished on a high note, while Everett’s 2019 season couldn’t have ended much worse. Higbee just signed a four-year extension in September, while Everett has just one year left on his rookie deal.

On the surface, the Rams’ interest in tight ends would seem to put Everett’s future with the team in jeopardy. He’s younger, has a more intriguing skill set and is entering the final year of his contract. And given the way the Rams handled the position at the end of the 2019 season, it’s clear they feel good about Higbee.

But if the Rams are determined to free up cap space, there’s no mistaking which players offers more potential savings by being cut or traded.

If the Rams trade Higbee, they’ll save $6.2 million in cap space this year. If they deal Everett, the savings will only be $1.3 million. The Rams would save the same amount by cutting Everett, but releasing Higbee would only save them $200,000; that’s not really an option.

Could it be possible that the Rams featured Higbee so heavily late in the year to drive up his trade value? Two years ago, the were reportedly trying to get a sixth-rounder for him. Surely, the price has gone up after his breakout season. The Rams could probably get a fifth-rounder for Higbee now, if not a fourth.

As for Everett’s trade value, it’s difficult to gauge. He’s younger and a former second-round pick, but a team will only be getting one season out of him if he doesn’t sign an extension.

The Rams’ interest in tight ends doesn’t mean either player will be traded or cut. It could just be them doing their due diligence ahead of the draft in the event that one of their targets slides on Day 3.

But it’d be silly to ignore their interest in the position, given the number of players they’ve looked at.

Rams’ new strength coach has ties to Todd Gurley, Tyler Higbee

Justin Lovett worked with Tyler Higbee and Todd Gurley during his college coaching days.

On Monday, the Los Angeles Rams announced the hiring of Justin Lovett as their new head strength coach, replacing Ted Rath who departed to join the Eagles’ staff. It was a role that was vacant for some time, and while Sean McVay said he wanted to fill it before the combine, that timeline didn’t align.

Lovett doesn’t have much NFL experience, spending just four years with the Broncos from 2009-2012, but he does have connections to two Rams players.

While Lovett was the head football strength and conditioning coach at Western Kentucky from 2014-2016, he worked with Tyler Higbee, who the Rams drafted in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. The two worked together during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, so their connection is obvious.

Before working at Western Kentucky, Lovett spent three years at Georgia from 2012-2014. Of course, Gurley was with the Bulldogs for all of those seasons, even though he only played six games in his final year due to a suspension and torn ACL.

Higbee and Gurley are both under contract for the 2020 season, but there have been trade rumors swirling about Gurley. The same was true about Higbee before he signed an extension last year, so he’s likely to stick around for next season.

If the Rams are attempting to put Gurley in the best situation possible, they’re doing a good job. New running backs coach Thomas Brown is also a former Georgia Bulldog and coached the running backs at Georgia in the past, though never with Gurley there.

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Sean McVay on Tyler Higbee: ‘We’ve got big plans for him’

Sean McVay had some high praise for Tyler Higbee at the combine Tuesday.

Tyler Higbee was one of the most productive and consistent players in the NFL over the course of the final month of last season. He had four straight games with at least seven catches and 100 yards in the last five weeks, gaining 522 yards in that span.

Incredibly, it was the best season ever by a Rams tight end, and Higbee’s late emergence has Los Angeles feeling good about his potential heading into 2020. Sean McVay was asked about Higbee at the NFL combine Tuesday and he’s excited about what the future holds for the young tight end.

“He made a huge impact for us. He’s always been a very important part of it and I thought it was great for Tyler to be able to get the opportunities and to be able to maximize that,” McVay said. “And you could see as his production continued to show up week in and week out – I think it’s not by coincidence that a lot of Jared’s really good play coincided with when Tyler ended up playing really well, starting with the first Arizona game and leading into those last five games. We’ve got big plans for him. That’s something that I thought it was great for him to be able to maximize those opportunities and we think he’s got a very bright future.”

It wasn’t long ago that the Rams shopped Higbee, nearly trading him to the Vikings in 2018. They were seeking a sixth-round pick but the Vikings would only offer a seventh, so the talks fizzled.

It was reasonable to think the Rams might trade Higbee last offseason with Gerald Everett seemingly poised for a breakout year. Now, Everett would appear to be the more likely tight end to be traded, though that’s probably not going to happen, either.

The duo has a chance to be one of the best in the NFL, but that will only happen if they’re given the chance to play significant roles. At least for Higbee, that seems likely in 2020.

Rams 2010s All-Decade Team: Offense

Breaking down the best offensive players to play for the Los Angeles (and St. Louis) Rams during the 2010s.

(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

The 2010s were quite an eventful decade for the Rams franchise. They played in two different cities, had the first overall pick twice, played in a Super Bowl, drafted a generational talent and a massive bust in the first round of the same draft, won two games in a season, hired a coach who produced a timeless meme, and hired another coach who changed how teams hire coaches in the NFL.

There were some incredible highs and some devastating lows. This list is no different. There are players on this list that would make anybody’s overall NFL All-Decade team, and there are players on this list that maybe shouldn’t have even been starting games in the NFL. The Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams of the 2010s were a rollercoaster ride. This list will give you a chance to relive it.

To select our All-Decade Team, we only considered what players did between the 2010 and 2019 seasons. For example, when considering Steven Jackson, we wouldn’t take into account his entire career with the Rams, just his three years playing for the team this decade.

Let’s get into it, starting with the offense.

Quarterback: Jared Goff (2016 – 2019)

(Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

Goff is the only real option here. In his three full seasons as the Rams starting quarterback, Goff threw for 13,130 yards while completing 63% of his passes. He tossed 82 touchdown passes against 35 interceptions and added five touchdowns on the ground. His rookie season may have been abysmal, but Goff bounced back with two very impressive seasons in 2017 and 2018. He was the first Rams quarterback to be selected to back-to-back Pro Bowls since Kurt Warner in 2000-2001.

Most importantly, he’s helped the team win football games – something the Rams’ other QBs from last decade struggled to do. The Rams have put together three straight winning seasons for the first time since the days of the Greatest Show on Turf. Goff played a significant role in leading the Rams to a 13-3 record and a Super Bowl appearance in 2018. He holds a 33-14 record as the Rams starting quarterback since 2017.

Goff left a lot to be desired in 2019, but his overall tenure with the Rams has been a success. Let’s hope he can return to form in 2020 and cement himself as the quarterback for next decade’s team.

Honorable Mention: Sam Bradford

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Inside the Stats: Tight Ends

Inside the stats for tight ends

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

It is a position where few stand out with fantasy relevance, so overall stats say about all you need to know about a tight end’s value. These are the 12 players with at least 50 catches for 2019 and are in an offensive system that will use the position enough to let them matter. Still, always good to know a bit more about the player talent level if only for the future should they change teams.

Notable Players:

George Kittle – He did not see as much work in the playoffs as the regular season, but he’s clearly one of the most talented players of the position. His only metric that wasn’t among the best was the yards before catch – the one thing he has nothing to do with. His catch percentage (79%), yards after catch (7.1), and broken tackles (8) were all best in the NFL.

Darren Waller – For the second year in a row, the Raiders produced a top fantasy tight end from a player that had never been nearly so productive in the past. Waller posted metrics very similar to Kittle and had no low marks in any category.

Mark Andrews – The Ravens don’t throw a lot and don’t limit themselves to just one tight end, but Andrews led the group with 13.3 yards per catch not unlike a wide receiver would do.

Tyler Higbee – His late-season explosion of 2019 is still hard to wrap a head around. Is he just a late-career Cinderella ready to return to pumpkin status or will he continue his head-scratching, elite performances?  His 78% catch rate was nearly the best in the league and he only dropped two passes.  One to watch to be sure.

Mike Gesicki – The other new face to fantasy tight ends actually fielded the No. 8 highest number of passing targets for the position. That alone makes the third-year former second-round pick on the watch list for 2020. He’s on a trajectory for a breakout season and never dropped a pass last year.

Tyler Higbee went from overlooked TE to top-75 player in NFL

Tyler Higbee was ranked as the 74th-best player in the NFL by Pro Football Focus in 2019.

When looking at the Los Angeles Rams’ offensive playmakers heading into the 2019 season, Tyler Higbee’s name was far down the list. He was behind the likes of Todd Gurley, Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods, Brandin Cooks, Gerald Everett and in some minds, even Darrell Henderson Jr.

No one expected him to have the season that he did, but Everett’s injury and the Rams’ mentality shift late in the year led to a breakout campaign by Higbee. He finished the season with 69 catches for 734 yards and seven touchdowns, more than doubling his career reception and yardage totals from the previous three years combined.

It was the best season ever by a Rams tight end, setting franchise records in receptions and yards thanks to his late-season emergence. In the final five games alone, he had 43 catches for 522 yards and two touchdowns, topping 100 yards in four of those starts.

He’s now on the radars of most casual NFL fans – partly due to fantasy football – and has garnered the respect of Pro Football Focus. PFF is ranking the top 101 players in the NFL from the 2019 season and Higbee came in at No. 74.

The Rams took a significant step back this season overall, but one member of the team who went in the other direction was their tight end, Tyler Higbee. Higbee more than doubled his previous career-high figures for receptions and receiving yards while receiving more than twice the targets he did a season ago. He broke seven tackles after the catch and hauled in 80.2% of the passes thrown his way over the season.

Higbee probably wouldn’t have sniffed the top 200 players in the NFL before last season, but he burst onto the scene with a huge performance and people are taking notice. Now that he’s established himself as the top tight end in Los Angeles, it begs the question of what Everett’s role will be in 2020.

Could the Rams try to shop him in order to recoup a mid-round pick? Or will they simply utilize more two-tight end sets with Higbee and Everett to make their offense even more versatile and unpredictable?

That’s up to Sean McVay and new offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell, but at least there are countless options with this group. Higbee’s breakout season came at the perfect time for the Rams, especially since they just signed him to an extension in September.

Tyler Higbee was PFF’s top graded Rams player on offense in 2019

Tyler Higbee finished with the highest grade on offense of any Rams player.

The Los Angeles Rams have Todd Gurley, Jared Goff, Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods on offense, but Pro Football Focus didn’t grade a single one of those players higher than Tyler Higbee in 2019.

Incredibly, with all the big names Los Angeles has on its offense, it was Higbee – who had 26 catches for 212 yards and one touchdown in the first 10 games of the season – with the highest grade PFF grade on the Rams offense this season.

He finished the year with an overall grade of 85.9, which was the third-highest by a Rams offensive player in the last three years. It was all thanks to his last five games of the season, which all came in December.

In those games, he caught 43 passes for 522 yards and two touchdowns. Thanks to that finish, Higbee not only ended the year with the highest grade on offense by a Rams player, but he posted the best season by a tight end in franchise history. His 69 catches and 734 yards are the most ever by a Rams tight end.

Higbee doesn’t necessarily get all the credit he should as a blocker, either. He was strong in that department this season, both in the running game and in pass protection. Against the Bears, he was asked to block Khalil Mack one-on-one a couple times and held his own in those situations.

As the Rams’ official site mentioned, Higbee’s receiving grade of 90.0 is what really pushed his performance over the top. He wasn’t a downfield threat, though. He gained a good chunk of his yards after the catch, gaining 396 yards with the ball in his hands.

According to PFF’s data, Higbee did the majority of his damage when targeted short, or 1-9 yards past the line of scrimmage, catching 46 of 52 yards for 394 yards and all three of his touchdowns in that range. He also was effective on screens, too, catching 12 of 13 targets for 111 yards with 142 yards after the catch when targeted behind the line of scrimmage.

Higbee received an extension last season and while it was met with confusion and some criticism, he’s making the Rams look wise for signing him when they did. In one month, he emerged as one of the most reliable tight ends in football.