Can LA Rams OC Liam Coen revitalize WR Tutu Atwell

The LA Rams may be enjoying the wave of success following their incredible and dramatic victory in Super Bowl LVI. But the season was not a story of everything the team did found unbridled success. The Rams added young players via the 2021 NFL Draft, but those young players did not show up as impact players in the past season.

That is particularly true of WR Tutu Atwell, who was chosen with the LA Rams’ top pick of the draft, but who seemed to struggle more so than most in his rookie season. The conversation about what Coen envisions for Atwell begins in Episode 82 of the Rams Revealed podcast. While I found the entire podcast to be both entertaining and informative, if you want to hone in on just the conversation about Tutu Atwell and how OC Liam Coen envisions how he fits in the offense, you can find that by fast-forwarding to the 12:10 mark of the show.

The Rams sports announcer J.B. Long delivers his typical informative insightful interview style and touches on some intriguing talking points from newly-hired offensive coordinator Liam Coen in this week’s episode with this question.

J.B. Long: “How do you extract value from, for instance, the top pick of last year’s class, Tutu Atwell, and his unique skill-set?”

"“Being able to watch his skill set and obviously, he can run. You know, he can really stretch the field and it’s about keeping him healthy at this point. And trying to really maximize his potential and figure out where he fits. What is his niche going to be within this system? And trying to really dive into his development over this offseason. Definitely, an explosive player that we need to be able to get some mileage out of.” – per Liam Coen as interviewed in Rams Revealed podcast Episode 82"

Okay, so what does that mean?

Well, three key elements jump out of this interview. Rather than hurl all of them at you in one swoop, let’s divide and conquer. Nor is it enough to just repeat Liam Coen’s answer back to you.

Instead, let’s talk about what the LA Rams may attempt in 2022 to recoup their investment in WR Tutu Atwell. They loved him in the 2021 NFL Draft. Unfortunately, many of the roles envisioned for him have either been filled successfully, or the Rams have metamorphosed into a different type of team, and those roles are now obsolete.