Turf Show Times
What if the Los Angeles Rams are telling the truth about Terrance Ferguson, that the rookie tight end will get his opportunity eventually, but are hiding the part that Sean McVay doesn’t want to say out loud? That maybe the Rams drafted Ferguson with the future in mind. Specifically, if and when Matthew Stafford retires.
Stafford’s history with tight end receiving production has been suspect at best and now the Rams have arguably the least valuable tight end room in the NFL. I’m not going to say that Stafford is “to blame” for this, but are tight end investments a waste of valuable resources when the quarterback is Stafford?
Six weeks into the season, Tyler Higbee leads Rams tight ends with 103 routes run and he’s been targeted 15 times. Higbee has 10 catches for 102 yards, averaging 4.9 air yards per target, and he has one touchdown.
Higbee’s 46.7% success rate in 2025 is the lowest it has been since 2017, his second year in the league. Higbee is on a sorta-friendly deal, but his $8.7 million cap hit ranks 15th among all tight ends. It is by no means a crippling number, but keep in mind that Higbee is 34th in receiving yards among tight ends and as stated earlier he only has one touchdown. He’s be no means a red zone threat and has only averaged 2.5 touchdowns per season in his career.
But we’ll come back to Higbee in a moment and how much more productive he was prior to 2021.
Davis Allen is second on the team with 53 routes and Stafford has targeted him 9 times. Allen has 7 catches for 55 yards and 2 touchdowns, averaging 7 air yards per target. Allen is 27th in air yards per target, whereas Higbee is 56th. This just illustrates that the Rams don’t have a downfield threat at tight end…
Wait, they do. They just don’t use him.
Finally we get to Colby Parkinson, who has run 33 routes and been targeted 5 times. Parkinson has 4 catches for 11 yards and averages 4.8 air yards per target.
If you just want a tight end to dunk the ball to less than 5 yards away, you can grab those guys off of the street. Strangely, the Rams are paying Parkinson MORE than they’re paying Higbee: Parkinson’s $9.8 million cap hit is 13th among all tight ends in the league.
Over at Next Gen Stats, Parkinson ranks 111th out of 113 tight ends in receiving EPA (Estimated Points Added), ahead of Bengals teammates Noah Fant and Mike Gesicki. It’s actually more impressive that Parkinson has managed to get this low despite only being targeted 5 times and catching 4 of those passes. But that’s how bad Parkinson has been with his limited opportunities.
Because EPA is not a volume stat. It measures the value of each time you touch the ball and Parkinson’s opportunities have been THAT bad.
**$9.8 million. Parkinson’s cap...
