LA Rams: Five most underrated moves of the 2021 offseason

Signing WR DeSean Jackson

The LA Rams have an entire cast of wide receivers who play a very similar game. They are almost all in the 6-foot-0 to 6-foot-2, 190 to 210 pounds range. Almost all returning receivers on the roster have nearly elite route-running skills, and they specialize in creating separation and in generating yards after the catch.  It’s all great, but so very homogenous.

Los Angeles Rams

Adding veteran speedster DeSean Jackson throws a completely new receiver-style into the Rams offense, and that could create tons of trouble for defenses that have settled into a formula-driven approach to countering the Rams offensive strategy. Defenses have learned that a fast overwhelming amount of quarterback pressure derailed the Jared Goff-led Rams offense. While that may or may not hold true for the new Matthew Stafford-led offense, the organization has already taken steps to thwart the strategy.

Jackson may not have had much luck remaining healthy over the past two seasons, but when he plays he remains a dangerous receiver. In his past eight games, he caught 23 of 36 passes thrown his way for 395 yards and three touchdowns.  He is far more effective in his career when playing in a Sean McVay offense, as he has caught 142 of 244 passes thrown his way for 2,702 yards and 14 touchdowns over three seasons.  He averaged 19.0 yards per reception for McVay.

Now, Jackson is coming home. A Los Angeles native, he reunites with one of his favorite coaches and is ideally suited to threaten defenses that are tempted to go with a cover-zero strategy. Goff struggled mightily when facing the Miami Dolphins in 2020 because he was unable to read his progressions quickly enough to find the open receiver. Stafford should not have a similar difficulty, and DeSean Jackson will most certainly make defenses pay the penalty for deploying that strategy in 2021.