Derek Stanley

Dante Hall‘s career with the Rams was short and injury filled, but as most fans will admit it was nice to have a solid return man (you know, when he wasn’t on crutches). This year however, Hall is a thing of the past and the Rams are now searching for the next incarnation of “The Human Joystick”. Here are the options:

Derek Stanley: Last year Stanley led the team in kick return average at 24.8 yds/return. Knee surgery has slowed his progress, but it appears he is starting to regain comfortability returning kicks.

Donnie Avery: The team’s speed demon, I wouldn’t count too much on Avery returning kicks simply because the Rams more than likely want him to save up his energy since he will be the main focus of the passing game.

Kenneth Darby: Darby has been receiving the most reps so far as the returner, but Spags said the competition is wide open. Last year, Darby averaged 24.7 yards/return, which was 2nd on the team.

Samkon Gado: I’m not too familiar with Gado when it comes to returning kicks. After some research however I realized why; Gado has only returned 3 kicks in his entire career. He has just as good of a shot as anyone, but doesn’t boost the greatest credentials.

Prediction: Darby and Stanley will be your kick returners this season.

Keenan Burton

I’m going to be honest with you, the Rams aren’t exactly what you would call “loaded” when it comes to the receiver position. A year ago Rams fans everywhere watched Isaac Bruce sign with the enemy, the San Francisco 49ers. If that wasn’t bad enough, the release of Torry Holt certainly provided the bitter and disgusting cherry on top. Where does that leave the Rams?

Basically, it leaves the Rams with a roster full of no names and a large hole in an already less than spectacular offense. Currently, here is the list of receivers competing for a roster spot:

-Nate Jones
-Brooks Foster
-Tim Carter
-Ronald Curry
-Jarrett Byers
-Derek Stanley
-Keenan Burton
-Donnie Avery
-Laurent Robinson
-Sean Walker

Not exactly Greatest Show On Turf part 2 is it? It appears the Rams go to receiver is going to be Donnie Avery who turned out to be a most pleasant surprise last season. My only problem with this however is that Avery has a whole lot to learn when it comes to route running. Last year he was solely a burner, which is perfectly fine when you have a receiver like Torry Holt there to distract the secondary. This year though he has no big playmaker to ease the pressure and therefore you can expect to see more shadowing on Avery, specifically over the top to take away the deep ball. If Avery does eventually develop his route running skills, it is not too crazy to think he may be a star some day. As for now though, he needs some playmakers around him.

So who fills in the other spots? It appears Curry and Burton will have the upper hand heading into training camp. Curry is the most experienced of the bunch and Burton emerged late last year as a reliable receiver despite being slowed by a knee injury. Watching the other 4 or 5 receiver spots get filled should be very interesting. Derek Stanley appears to be fully recovered and all of these new, young faces present a particularly intriguing position battle to follow at this years training camp.

My prediction for the WR position

Starters: Donnie Avery, Keenan Burton
Slots: Ronald Curry, Derek Stanley
Final Spots: Laurent Robinson, Brooks Foster, and Tim Carter