The St. Louis Rams are desperately trying to become the smash-mouth football team head coach Jeff Fisher envisioned when he took over three years ago. The selection of Todd Gurley in the first round of this year's NFL draft only adds to that goal. But a successful team can't only focus on one area of its roster. As they say, you have to spread the wealth and it's no coincidence that the Rams haven't had a winning season under Fisher yet with one of the NFL's worst passing offenses in that time.
The offseason trade for quarterback Nick Foles will hopefully bring some much needed stability under center. Although Foles' play came back down to earth last year, he is still a guy who has succeeded on run-heavy teams and played efficiently in the past. But finding the same level of success in St. Louis may be difficult given the shoddy wide receiving corps.
"No wideout currently on the Rams roster has ever caught 50 passes or gained 800 yards in a season," Vince Verhei of Football Outsiders wrote. "In fact, the only Rams wideout to see 50 targets last season was Kenny Britt."
Britt, a former first-rounder, has talent, but he's never been able to fully put everything together at the NFL level due to injuries and off-field issues. He shouldn't be counted on as a No. 1 wide receiver. In fact, no receiver on the Rams' roster is going to make Foles' job significantly easier.
"After that? Well, Brian Quick led the Rams with 53.6 receiving yards per game last season, but played in only seven games. He might not be ready for training camp after separating his shoulder and tearing his rotator cuff in a Week 8 loss to Kansas City. He has only 13 starts in three years on a Rams team that hasn't exactly been spoiled with talent at the position. Tavon Austin is always dangerous on reverses and gadget plays, but he hasn't had much luck actually catching passes. In fact, he had more runs (36) than receptions (31) in 2014. Stedman Bailey was surprisingly effective on a per-target basis last season, but, like Quick, it's telling that he has been such a small part of the Rams' game plan in his first two seasons."
Foles was brought in to improve the passing game. But how much can he be expected to do with a lack of weapons around him? Fisher better hope that ground game kicks into high gear starting Week 1.
