LA Rams: 15 greatest wide receivers of All Time

With all of the talk recently about the record-setting pace of the LA Rams wide receiver, Cooper Kupp, it occurred to me that perhaps there is a diminishing appreciation among modern-day Rams fans in terms of the outstanding performances by the team’s receivers over the years. Some of the greatest pass-catching talent to ever play professional football wore horns on their helmets.

And this year, the unthinkable happened. Robert Woods, affectionately known as Bobby Trees to the #Ramily faithful, was traded for very little compensation. So to honor Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp in true Ramblin Fan tradition, why not feature them in an article?

And so, one of the next article topics seemed to make perfect sense. Who have been the greatest receivers of All Time for the Rams franchise? And perhaps even more challenging, how should they be ranked?  After all, an NFL with such a rich and storied history as that of the LA Rams will eventually have some disagreements and disputes.

Auld Lang Syne

After all, it’s only natural. We tend to prioritize events that occurred most recently. We are all struggling to sustain ourselves in our third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. But how many would rank the Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919 as comparable? Worldwide deaths from the 1918 flu are significantly higher, and a much greater number were infected.  Compare those numbers to the current numbers of fatalities and impacted persons by COVID. But it’s the current event that we struggle to forget.

So timeliness can alter our perception. But whenever we are discussing record-setting performances in the NFL, we also need to keep in mind that the game has changed significantly over the years. Years ago, any receiver trying to run a route across the middle of the defense was subjected to bone-jarring hits, because the rules allowed it to occur. Most offenses from that era were run-centric because it was simply too difficult to rely exclusively on the passing game to move the chains.

If you want to check out the list of outstanding Rams receivers from their accumulated stats alone, you can click this link to get to the Rams Franchise Career Receiving Leaders.  Be sure to find a comfortable place to sit and peruse the information, you may be there a while. But we’ve got a lot of incredible players to discuss, to recall, to remember, and to ultimately decide for ourselves who should be ranked where.

All set? Okay, here we go…