LA Rams: Tight end Tyler Higbee could have career high season

Higbee and Mundt, together again

The LA Rams must have slipped and bumped their heads after the 2019 NFL season. How else can you explain witnessing one of the greatest months of production by any NFL tight end ever, and then acting like it never happened the following year? Tyler Higbee put up 522 yards and two touchdowns in the month of December 2019.  Let’s step back and place that singular month into perspective.

Higbee’s production in five games in December 2019 was more than any of his other four entire seasons in terms of yards. In terms of touchdown production? He scored as much or more in that singular month than he had in three of his other four seasons. So what was the secret in that month? And how can the Rams put up that kind of numbers once more?

Part of the explosiveness in the offense came down to simplicity it seems. With Goff, the fewer options, the better. When the team needed two tight ends to help the running game, that simplified offense seemed to vastly improve Higbee’s number of targets. With the additional help of blocking tight end Johnny Mundt helping in pass protection, Goff was able to zing the ball to either the open wide receiver or to Higbee. 522 yards and two touchdowns were the results of that simplification. Not too shabby.

Now, the Rams can re-complicate the offense somewhat. Stafford has made a career of rapid progression reads and instantly finding the hot receiver on any play. While that won’t be Higbee on every play, it could certainly lead to far more passes his way. More passes mean more catches. More catches mean more yards and more touchdowns. Will Higbee rise to among the top tight ends in the NFL? Who’s to say? But even if he merely consolidates the production he once shared with teammate Gerald Everett, he could be looking at 1200 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Those are great numbers for an NFL tight end. To do it, all he will need is chemistry with his quarterback and a little attention. That certainly seems doable.