Les Snead: No regrets about not taking receiver By Nick Wagoner

Friday, January 16, 2015
Les Snead: No regrets about not taking receiver
By Nick Wagoner

EARTH CITY, Mo. — As St. Louis Rams general manager Les Snead peruses the talent in the 2015 NFL draft, he seems pretty sure of at least one thing.

Kenny Britt
Kenny Britt was a good free-agent addition for the Rams, who passed on picking from a loaded receivers class in the draft.
“I don’t know if the wide receivers in this year’s draft are going to match last year’s,” Snead said. “I think there will be a ’30 for 30′ on last year’s class of wide receivers.”

It’s a class that included early picks like Buffalo’s Sammy Watkins, Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans, Carolina’s Kelvin Benjamin and, the biggest star so far, the New York Giants’ Odell Beckham Jr. But it also had plenty of depth with later picks who made an instant impact such as Philadelphia’s Jordan Matthews and Miami’s Jarvis Landry.

No receiver class has ever been more productive as a group than the 2014 wideouts. Beckham, Evans and Benjamin all went over 1,000 receiving yards with Watkins just 18 yards short of joining them. It’s the only time in league history that three receivers have surpassed 1,000 yards and only the second time with two to achieve that feat (1986 was the other with Bill Brooks and Ernest Givins).

Taking it further, there were seven rookie receivers to surpass 50 catches on the season. That’s happened only once in league history (2008) and the seven who did it in 2014 reached those numbers in just the first 14 weeks of the season.

It’s also a class from which the Rams did not select a single wide receiver with any of their 11 draft choices. That despite a receiver group that hadn’t seen a receiver reach even the 700-yard mark since Torry Holt did it in 2008 and hasn’t had a 1,000-yard receiver since Holt in 2007. They also knew going into that draft that wideout Stedman Bailey was facing a suspension.

Given the benefit of hindsight, though, Snead does not regret electing to forgo the position.

“I’ll be honest with you and I think I said it 100 times, this wide receiver class is the best that I’ve seen in my years,” Snead said. “We had determined that whether it was adding strength to the defensive line or starting to help our OL out, we need to get on to those things and never did we think our guys are better than these, it’s just we felt these other players at other positions are better for the St. Louis Rams. We invested a good amount in wide receivers and they’re all young so we had to figure it out.”

In placing that bet, the Rams revealed a little bit of progress but nothing substantial. Free-agent addition Kenny Britt proved to be a solid pickup as he became the first Rams receiver since Holt to eclipse 700 yards receiving, finishing with 748. Before Britt got rolling, Brian Quick flashed promise in the early part of the season, posting 25 catches for 375 yards and three touchdowns until a shoulder injury ended his season after about six and a half games.

As a group, though, the Rams receivers could still use help. They combined for 2,077 yards (31st in the NFL), 157 catches (30th) and nine touchdowns (28th). It is also important to note that the Rams’ wideouts worked with musical chairs at quarterback and behind mostly inconsistent offensive line play. Even a top rookie wideout likely wouldn’t have made the same impact in St. Louis.

But with Britt scheduled for free agency and Quick facing a long rehabilitation, the Rams’ receiver position once again enters the offseason with its share of question marks.

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/15486/snead-says-no-regrets-about-not-taking-receiver