Another Los Angeles Rams Steal? New Study Names Rookie Among Best 2024 Draft Route Runners

Ryan Anderson

Another Los Angeles Rams Steal? New Study Names Rookie Among Best 2024 Draft Route Runners

If you were to ask any football fan to name the best wide receivers from the 2024 NFL Draft, they would likely have a long list before they arrived at the Los Angeles Rams 6th-round wide receiver Jordan Whittington.

But according to a new study by Eric Eager at Sumer Sports, Whittington has one of the most unpredictable and versatile route trees among all wide receivers draft, not just in 2024, but since 2020.

Sumer recently conducted an in-depth study of FBS wide receivers from the 2018 to 2023 season on every route run to determine route-running versatility using Shannon Entropy, which aims to provide a singular value on the predictability of the receiver’s next route. Unpredictable route running versatility leads to a higher target rate at the collegiate level. Those with a higher target rate here are also more likely to be drafted (as shown in the gold-shaded bubbles below).

According to their findings, Whittington’s route tree versatility grade is a 3.2. This is the 8th best among receivers drafted since 2020 and 4th best in the 2024 class. While most of the names on this list aren’t the whose-who of recently drafted WRs, most are important role players on thier respective teams.

Screen Shot 2024 05 30 at 11.58.18 AMAnother Los Angeles Rams Steal? New Study Names Rookie Among Best 2024 Draft Route Runners 6

Jordan Whittington’s Route Versatility With Texas and The Los Angeles Rams

Eager points out in his article that “A WR with experience running many different routes at a high level gives defenses issues in coverage and can provide a signal on the level of trust the offensive coordinators have on their route running ability.” and “that the trust of collegiate offensive coordinators in their route running ability may be used in various different ways to get the player targets in the passing game.”

Despite having a versatile route tree, Whittington never became a go-to option that others in this cohort became in college. Whittington received one of the lowest targets per route run while at Texas. Even in his best season, he didn’t lead his team in any traditional statistic.

This could have actually been a symptom of other players around him NOT having as complete route trees. Whittington had one of the shortest average depth of targets among Texas pass catchers last season, 7.2 yards, while Adonai Mitchell was 16.1 yards and Xavier Worthy was 10 yards.

That left Whittington to do a lot of the dirty work at the line of scrimmage and in the intermediate area of the field, which is where a lot of this cohort earned their stripes, including another Rams 2024 rookie, Drake Stoops. Whittington earned the 6th highest PFF grade when catching passes in this area of the field.

This is exactly where the Los Angeles Rams like to operate and it is the reason that they bring on pass catchers like Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua.

Jordan Whittington will have to crack into a tough top three in Los Angeles, but having a versatile route tree will give him a good chance to get in first-team reps in his rookie season

from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2024/05/30/rams-jordan-whittington-otas-mike-lafleur-learning/?taid=66588d83e860dd0001d03d1b&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter

Offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur discussed how quickly Whittington is picking things up, which isn’t necessarily easy with all of the nuances to McVay’s offense.

“First of all, all those rookies, we’re throwing them in a lot of different spots in a lot of different situations,” LaFleur said Tuesday. “Maybe some a little bit more than others, but he’s doing a great job. You can tell he’s really taking what he’s learning in the classroom to the field. I said it last year about Puka, but how beneficial for a young receiver to be in that room with a guy like (WRs coach Eric Yarber) ‘Yarbs’ and then obviously guys like Cooper Kupp and now Puka going into Year 2. What a blessing it is for those guys to be around people like them.”

zn wrote:

Rams OTAs observations: Reserve OL and ILBs get snaps, coaching updates, active D-line

JR does more with a dull OTA no pads practice than some writers for the Rams have ever done with entire actual games.

Experience in Texas’ offense helping Jordan Whittington’s transition to NFL

Stu Jackson

https://www.therams.com/news/experience-in-texas-offense-helping-jordan-whittington-s-transition-to-nfl

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Like all of the current Rams’ rookies, wide receiver Jordan Whittington is consuming a ton of information in a condensed period of time.

Fortunately for him, the way he and his college teammates learned their offense at Texas is making it a little bit easier to process that information, and ultimately transition into the NFL as he learns Los Angeles’ playbook.

“One thing that I can say I took from Texas, and I know that other receivers in my room (there) did, we learned concept-based, and I think that directly translates to this offense,” Whittington told theRams.com. “So just learning it as a concept, the words change, but most of the concepts are somewhat similar. So I think we did a good job at Texas by learning concept-based.”

Whittington compared that acclimation to the first day of freshman year, in terms of “being back to square one” with learning the playbook.

Beyond that concept-based learning carryover, Whittington has also benefitted from joining a wide receiver room led by eight-year veteran Cooper Kupp, who willingly helps ensure each player is set up for success.

“That’s exciting for me,” Whittington said of that ‘square one’ feeling. “Just being able to learn the process again and go through everything these guys are going through. It’s a lot of information in a short amount of time, so just trying to figure out how to be a professional, and I have like one of the best ones in my room. He’s a really good guy, and he’s not selfish with how he learns things. So him just teaching me how to learn and me just watching, I’ve been able to like learn different ways to learn throughout this process.”

Whittington’s special teams experience and ability to play all three receiver positions were the two biggest reasons both general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay identified as what made the former Texas standout an appealing prospect.

His role is still to be determined, which is understandable having been with the team for less than a month. His main focus during this time anyway is on continuing to learn and improve daily.

“This is a new process,” Whittington said. “Like I said, there’s gonna be growing pains, there’s always adjustments and being able to adjust when you’re just starting something. So I’m going through that phase right now of learning, being able to learn, and then at some point, I’ll get that down, move on to the next thing. You just keep on just keep on stacking these days. So that’s what I’ve been focused on.”

from Ranking the NFL’s Backup QBs of 2024: https://www.si.com/nfl/ranking-nfl-backup-qbs-2024

14. Jimmy Garoppolo, Los Angeles Rams 

Garoppolo’s days as a starter are likely over after one season with the Raiders. He’ll get a fresh start under the guidance of Sean McVay, who helped reignite Baker Mayfield’s career a few years back. Garoppolo, 32, went from standing in the Rams’ way as the starter for the 49ers to becoming the backup to Matthew Stafford. He has played in 81 career games with 63 starts during 10 NFL seasons.

wv wrote:

zn wrote:

Jourdan Rodrigue

They drafted him in the third because they absolutely loved him, he was a Sugarman visit, there is enough injury precedent even before this (recent) issue with Kyren to need a solid 2, and they will not extend running backs…

I didnt think it was that black-and-white. They ‘will not extend running backs.’ w v

It may be that way after Gurley. Hard to say. They haven’s kept any backs they’re acquired since 2015  (to count only the fairly to fully productive ones–Brown, Anderson, Henderson, Akers, Michel, Freeman). But then none of them were compelling cases. Williams might be a candidate, but then the issue with KW is health. He was banged up twice in 2022 (foot, including surgery, and then ankle) and in 2023 (ankle again then a hand injury in the Lions game that required surgery).

KW’s contract is up after 2025. Corum’s will be up after 2027. If Corum eventually supplants KW and KW gets no 2nd contract with the Rams, that means the team has 3 drafts to find a 1B back to play behind Corum and/or eventually supplant him.

Tom Pelissero@TomPelissero
End of OTAs? The NFL Players Association is working to finalize a proposal to overhaul the offseason starting as soon as 2025, eliminating voluntary on-field work in the spring in favor of a longer training camp ramp-up, with players reporting in mid-June to early July, per sources.

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from PFF, Bounce-back candidates for all 32 NFL teams in 2024: https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-bounce-back-candidates-all-32-nfl-teams-2024#LAR

LOS ANGELES RAMS: CB TRE’DAVIOUS WHITE

White was regarded as a burgeoning cornerback until the injury bug bit — and it hasn’t released its jaws much in the past few years. White has played just 631 snaps across the past two seasons and tore his Achilles in Week 4 of 2023.

However, White was off to a strong bounce back a year ago. He allowed just nine catches for 60 yards on 116 coverage snaps, also racking up an interception in that span. In fact, his 79.0 coverage grade (albeit in a very limited sample) was his highest since 2017.

The Rams could let White start promptly, especially because of Derion Kendrick‘s struggles through two seasons. What could also benefit White is having veteran Darious Williams beside him, as he could regain confidence and ability while Williams handles the more difficult assignments.

Observations from Rams’ first open OTA session of 2024 offseason program: Early look at rookies, plays made by Cobie Durant and Tre Tomlinson, and more

Stu Jackson

https://www.therams.com/news/observations-rams-first-open-ota-session-2024-offseason-program-early-look-at-rookies-plays-made-by-cobie-durant-and-tre-tomlinson

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Rams held their first OTA session open to the media on Tuesday, giving observers their first look at the team’s 2024 rookies on the practice field, a couple of interceptions by defensive backs Cobie Durant and Tre Tomlinson, and more.

Here are some of the notes and and observations from it:

1) OL Jonah Jackson and LB Ernest Jones IV non-participants: Regarding Jackson, head coach Sean McVay said “we’re just being smart with him” because “he had some things after the season that we (are) just not quite ready for (him to be out there).” Jackson departed practice about halfway through it.

“He’s done a lot of stuff as it relates to jog-throughs, the mental stuff,” McVay said. “Making good progress, but when he’ll be able to take part in the full 11-on-11 stuff, we expect that to happen at some point this offseason. But right now, we want to be smart with him.”

Jones, meanwhile, had an excused absence.

“Just handling some stuff today, but he’s been outstanding and a great leader for us,” McVay said.

2) RB Kyren Williams won’t participate in OTAs: McVay said Williams is dealing with a “foot issue” that will sideline him for OTAs, but it’s nothing to be concerned about and he’ll be ready for training camp.

3) QB Matthew Stafford present and participating: McVay during the NFL Draft confirmed a reported that Stafford wants an adjusted contract. Even as that situation is going on, Stafford was taking part in Tuesday’s session – confirming what McVay anticipated last month.

“He’s here and we appreciate that, and he knows that,” McVay said. “We’ve had good conversations with him about football, and anything other than that, really just kind of keep it in-house.”

4) Tip tip, hooray: One notable play was when DB Cobie Durant coralled a Stafford pass deflected LB Christian Rozeboom during 11-on-11 work.

5) Another pick: Tomlinson also secured an interception of his own, but in this instance it was against backup QB Jimmy Garoppolo during 11-on-11 work.

6) Stafford bounce-back: In a later part of 11-on-11, Stafford had consecutive completions to WR Demarcus Robinson, WR Cooper Kupp and WR Davis Allen at different levels of the field.

6) Lots of divots: If you saw grass flying up from the field, there’s a good chance it was because of the fast feet of rookie defensive tackle Braden Fiske. So far it’s one of the telling signs of how his motor runs during these sessions.

7) Tutu, one hand: WR Tutu Atwell had an impressive one-handed catch on a short pass toward the sideline from Garoppolo.

8) Skillset similarities: One thing McVay noted about why the team drafted RB Blake Corum this year is the similarities between Corum and Williams. The overlap could be seen Tuesday, especially when it came to the patience, vision, footwork, quickness, agility and pass-catching displayed by Corum.

joemad wrote:

Help me understand…….Why does his statement state negative 32 days for SF, then the list states negative 21 days for SF?   why the different values?

I had trouble with that too. He’s not very clear sometimes.