4 players who must shine for the LA Rams in Week 13

Tight end troubles

The LA Rams really don’t deliver very well on offense where the tight end position is concerned. When the team let Gerald Everett walk in free agency, it was quite logical to conclude that those targets would flow to the team’s remaining tight end, Tyler Higbee. Shock and surprise, that never happened.

But it could have, and still can. Yes, I’m writing this fully aware that the team has tried to make Higbee a keystone of this offense, and he has not been as effective as hoped for. Over the last three games, Higbee has been targetted 20 times but has only managed nine completions for 74 yards and one touchdown. In the previous nine games, he was targetted 36 times for 30 completions, 273 yards, and two touchdowns.

Sweet December

In December 2019, he caught 43 of 56 passes for 522 yards and two touchdowns. That could happen once more this year.  But it would be easier to do so if the team went with two tight ends, even if just for 20 percent of the plays. After all, the Rams have lost the services of other offensive swiss army knives when both Robert Woods and Johnny Mundt fell to injury.

Players do not get better just by showing up on the practice field. Sometimes, lessons learned on gameday punctuate the training for the rest of the week. The Rams have two tight ends on the roster who will not get any better just by sitting on the bench. Whether that means Brycen Hopkins or Kendall Blanton, the Rams need to give one or both some exposure to playing in the NFL on the football field.

Tyler Higbee can be counted on. The Rams need an offensive skill player to step up, and that is exactly what Higbee has done in the team’s past.  It can and will happen again, and it can start Week 13. How will we know? If Higbee is thrown to seven or more times and records 70+ receiving yards, then the dice are cast and he will be one of the team’s December weapons once more.