Los Angeles Rams: Backup receivers missed opportunity to shine in first preseason game

Some of the backup receivers of the Los Angeles Rams failed to make a case for themselves during the team’s first preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens.

Losing to the Baltimore Ravens during their first action of preseason was a tough pill to swallow for the Los Angeles Rams since it’s never fun to lose 33-7, but also it’s tough to be too concerned since none of the starters were playing.

Still, when considering this was the perfect opportunity for some of the backups to show off their skills against the Ravens, there were plenty of Rams that missed out in a big way, especially in the wide receiver department.

After last year’s surprise success with Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, excitement was high heading into 2018 for Jared Goff in the passing game. But when Los Angeles acquired Brandin Cooks out of nowhere from the New England Patriots to provide Goff with a speedy deep threat to work with, the excitement surrounding the Rams’ offense hit a whole new level.

Opponents are going to have their hands quite full defending this trio of Los Angeles receivers, but it’s still an open race when it comes to which players will step up beyond Cooks, Woods, and Kupp. With Tavon Austin (Dallas Cowboys) no longer part of the picture, the Rams hope the preseason results in some of their younger receivers stepping up to take advantage of the situation.

Between Pharoh Cooper looking to make more of an impact on offense since most of his work comes on special teams along with players like Josh Reynolds and Mike Thomas looking for larger roles of their own, Los Angeles has a few solid candidates to choose from.

So how exactly did these three youngsters look in that first preseason meeting against Baltimore? Unfortunately, these three receivers didn’t make as much of an impact as the Rams would have liked to see after they each caught just one pass while combining for 16 yards.

Not even the argument that these results would have been much different with more playing time and starters actually playing could be used since all three players are talented enough to record more than one catch in a game like this. Even more frustrating for Reynolds, the wideout is expected to miss the next week while dealing with an ankle injury, meaning he could be at another disadvantage over missing out on opportunities to make a name for himself in preseason action.

This time of year is extremely important for players like Cooper, Reynolds, and Thomas since McVay is going to work to their advantage by giving them extra time on the football field since all signs point to limiting the Rams starters as much as possible.

One performance obviously doesn’t determine what to expect from these three when the time comes during the regular season, but it was still frustrating to see them fail to take advantage of a golden opportunity in Week 1 to shine.