LA Rams Tutu Atwell shows up buff enough to be new offensive weapon?

The LA Rams were a bit discouraged with the team’s selection of wide receiver Tutu Atwell in the 2021 NFL Draft with the 57th overall pick. The young receiver had plenty of promise, speed, and incredibly impressive offensive statistics. But he arrived at the team at a very optimistic height of 5-foot-9 and a weight of 165-pounds. He was earmarked for multiple roles with the team:

For starters, the LA Rams front office intended to use his incredibly swift speed to stretch the football field against the defensive secondary.  The Rams signed veteran wide receiver DeSean Jackson, and Atwell was the guy who would watch and learn from one of the best deep threats in the NFL.

The other use was to show up and win either the punter returner, kick returner, or both return roles on special teams. While he hadn’t been used in those roles in college football, he was quite eager to be involved. But he seemed to struggle mightily on special teams, saw just 10 offensive snaps, and never was used in the offense before falling to injury and being lost for the rest of the 2021 NFL season.

Tutu Atwell is buff, tough, and ready to get rough

But now Tutu Atwell is back. And the latest image of him from the LA Rams training camp is that this guy has truly muscled up. So muscled up, in fact, that he has already been getting a lot of praise by LA Rams head coach Sean McVay

He is even getting shout-outs from quarterback Matthew Stafford, and teammate wide receiver Cooper Kupp.

He is even getting projected to emerge from training camp as the third wide receiver on the depth chart per ESPN  (more on that later).

An emerging Tutu Atwell would be such a welcome event for this LA Rams offense and special teams. It’s quite clear that the team scrambled to find reinforcements on both the offense and special teams in 2021. If Atwell delivers on the promise that the team had in him, he would not only become an offensive weapon that opposing defenses would not have an easy answer for, but he would also become a viable option for the team’s punt and kickoff return roles.

That’s the fun of training camp. Not just the chance to see new faces. But the added bonus of seeing current players in a new light.