Turf Show Times
The Rams’ new WR duo may test Stafford’s ability to spread targets.
The biggest move that the Los Angeles Rams made this offseason was signing wide receiver Davante Adams after he was released by the New York Jets. After releasing Cooper Kupp, the Rams needed a second weapon on the outside. Adams’ playstyle and star power made him a perfect fit for the Rams who are in a ‘win now’ window with quarterback Matthew Stafford.
However, in a sense, the Rams have been down this road previously. In 2022, the Rams signed an older wide receiver with name recognition in Allen Robinson. To say Robinson didn’t work out would be an understatement. Robinson had just 339 yards over 10 games and his 10.3 yards per reception were a career low.
Throughout Stafford’s career, there has always been a narrative that he tends to lock on to specific wide receivers. That was the case in 2021 with Kupp which went into 2022. During the first nine games of the 2022 season, Kupp had a 32.1 percent target share to Robinson’s 14.3 percent.
It can certainly be argued that Robinson wasn’t a fit for the offense. In combination with his injury history, the Rams were also getting a shell of the player that they were expecting. It’s fair to note that Robinson was a divergence from the original plan to re-sign Von Miller. When Miller signed with the Bills, the Rams moved on to Robinson who theyhadn’t done extensive background work on before signing.
However, as mentioned, this was also an issue in 2021. Prior to getting injured in 2021, Robert Woods also struggled to get targets from Stafford. Through the first nine weeks of the season, Woods received just 20 percent of Stafford’s targets compared to Kupp’s 30.8 percent. That’s nearly an 11-point gap. Additionally, removing the Week 5 game in which Woods had 14 targets after voicing frustrations, it was just 17.7 percent to Kupp’s 31.6 percent. That was much different than in 2020 when Woods led Rams receivers in targets with Jared Goff at quarterback.
It was also much of the same with Odell Beckham Jr. From Week 10 to the NFC Championship game, Beckham had a target share of 18.3 percent to Kupp’s 30.8.
Kupp’s season in 2021 was obviously historic and the job of the quarterback and offensive playcaller is to get the ball into the hands of the best player. In 2021 and the first half of 2022, that player was Kupp. However, that doesn’t make the discrepancy less noteworthy. Six of Stafford’s 17 interceptions in 2021 came when targeting Kupp as did four of his eight interceptions in 2022.
As Stafford has continued to spend more time in the offense, he has improved in this area. In 2023, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua had a near-identical target share. From Weeks 5-17 when both players were on the field, Nacua led the team in target share at 25.2 percent compared to Kupp’s 23.4 percent. That’s the...
