LA Rams TE Everett will rejoin Coach Waldron with Seahawks

The LA Rams are certainly losing a number of valuable players to the NFL Free Agency market rather quickly. But if the recent signings are any indication, the depressed salary cap for 2021 is forcing the players to be signed at discounts.  If you harbor any hopes for the awarding of multiple compensatory 2022 NFL Draft picks due to the loss of key free agents, you may need to temper that expectation.

Yes, Rams players are signing on elsewhere. But they are doing so at reasonably priced contracts. And those reasonable contracts generate the latest rounds and the most vulnerable comp picks. While the LA Rams are capped at four picks, just like all 32 NFL teams, they already have one compensatory pick on the way. The Rams will benefit from the hiring of Brad Holmes as the Detroit Lions GM with the second of two third-round draft picks in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Tight end Gerald Everett was hoped to land a contract that would fall into the fifth-round compensatory draft pick range. That did not happen. And he lands on a division rival, the Seattle Seahawks.

If 2021 is similar to 2020, that contract could result in an award of a sixth-round pick for the Rams in 2022. That is nothing to sneeze at, and it is a far better return than the Rams obtained in the trade of Michael Brockers to the Detroit Lions.

Great value. Better fit

Listen, I’m not hopeful for the Seattle Seahawks to succeed. But this is a solid fit for both player and team, and at a good value contract. Everett is a dependable big target who can catch, rush, and block. Thanks to some creative play designs, he can line up wide, tight, at the H slot, or even in the backfield.

Everett plateaued pretty quickly in the Rams’ offense, settling in around the 400 yards two touchdowns level. But he can work deep-routes, and his pass catch proficiency has definitely been on the rise. He is an athletic freak, and just one short year ago appeared to be more talented than many highly touted tight ends in the 2020 NFL Draft.

While the Rams never seemed to be a fit, that will not be the case for the Seahawks, a team that has cycled through plenty of tight ends in recent years. In Seattle, Everett should break through that 500-yard barrier and may put up much more.  He is a natural complement to the savvy scrambles of Russell Wilson, who can roll to Everett’s side. If the defender stays with the tight end, just pull down the ball and run. If the defender closes on Wilson, throw to Everett.

I hate to say it, but this is a helluva pickup for the Seahawks. What’s worse, they do so at the low end of the projected pay scale.