3 Rams that need a bigger role in remaining games

2. WR Van Jefferson

Life has not been easy for Rams WR Van Jefferson since the start of the league year. Early on in 2022 after winning Super Bowl LVI, Jefferson had undergone surgery to repair a minor knee injury. Jefferson was having a good training camp in 2022 and received praise from multiple players and staff about how well he was performing. Unfortunately, Jefferson tweaked his knee again toward the end of camp, which resulted in a second procedure being done at the beginning of August that would cause him to miss even more time.

After returning from injury in Week 8 against the San Francisco 49ers, expectations were high that Jefferson would come in and be a deep threat that Rams QB Matthew Stafford and this offense were missing. That hasn’t quite been the case, as his first two catches of the season came last week against the Arizona Cardinals. However, one of those catches resulted in a touchdown for the third-year receiver late in the fourth quarter.

Father-Son reunion

After the game, he talked about just how much that meant to him and his confidence. He also shared this brief moment with his father, Shawn Jefferson, who is the WR coach for the Arizona Cardinals.

With Jefferson’s confidence beginning to rise, there would be no better time than now to get him more integrated into the Rams’ offense. With the injury to Kupp and Rams WR Allen Robinson not doing too much to grab a defense’s attention, Van Jefferson could very well be the most dangerous receiver remaining on the roster at the moment. He is well-positioned for a much bigger role for the rest of the year.

We’ve seen what Jefferson is capable of when healthy and in a groove. He put up quite possibly the quietest 800-yard season I’ve ever seen from a receiver in 2021. The rest of the season is set up for him to get back into that groove. Stafford has had a clear rapport with Jefferson, as we saw them connect for multiple deep shots over the course of last year. Jefferson only played 17 snaps last week but assuming that Matthew Stafford is healthy and ready to go, these two could potentially match some of the numbers they put together in 2021.