Rams' polarizing Terrance Ferguson pick spells doom for Colby Parkinson

Call it anticipation, the impatience of waiting longer for the Los Angeles Rams to make their selection than any other NFL team, or the window-shopping effect of seeing so many talented rookies still on the draft board as the team stepped up to the podium, but the initial reaction to the Rams selection of Oregon Ducks TE Terrance Ferguson was underwhelming.

But that was the initial reaction. There are always silver linings. For starters, the Rams selected the fourth tight end from a draft class that was touted as a deep class loaded with TE starters. As much as I would have loved for the team to choose either Tyler Warren or Colston Loveland, that was not going to happen as both were off the board before the 15th overall pick.

Round 2 was never going to be about plug-and-play NFL starters on opening day of the 2025 NFL season. Even LSU TE Mason Taylor, chosen by the New York Jets with the 42nd overall pick, is not nearly as polished as the top two tight ends.

With the 46th pick in Round 2 of the 2025 NFL Draft, the Rams did indeed select Oregon TE Terrance Ferguson. While he is not a typical Rams tight end, let's dive into the first player selected by the Rams in this draft:

The initial comments about Terrance Ferguson in his featured profile are the points made that he is the same size as Michigan TE Colston Loveland, which is cited as the ideal size for an NFL tight end.

But size is not going to cut it. What about Ferguson put him on the Rams' radar? He had a superb week at the Senior Bowl. That is all I need to know about him to know that he would be one of the Rams' tight end targets.

Some Cons

The Rams met with five different tight ends. But Terrance Ferguson was not among them. Was he their target all along? That's a tough scenario to defend. The Rams seemed to meet with everyone but Ferguson, which is a lot of effort simply to disguise their intended target.

The Rams did a great job. Nothing in his draft profile suggested that he would be the Rams' top tight end selection. For a team that is all about finding players with passion and grit, a draft profile that describes a rookie with terms like: "An alarming lack of tenacity and fire..." and "he might need to find the grit..." simply does not scream Rams rookie.

He played four seasons for the Oregon Ducks, but never caught more than 44 receptions or gained more receiving yards than 591 yards.

Ferguson gets noticeable marks in almost all of his draft profiles as a struggling blocker. While the knocks against him are correctable with coaching and patience, a tight end who struggles at blocking is a head scratcher from Rams GM Les Snead.

Some Pros

The LA Rams have pursued a rookie tight end for the past three seasons. So, for better or worse, the search is over. But while I was not immediately wowed by the pick of Ferguson, there are plenty of elements about his draft profile that are a bit promising.

Most of the detractors for Terrance Ferguson are correctable with coaching and practice. What he excels at are the non-coachable traits. Qualities like size, power, speed, and agility are top-notch. And that is what anchored his Top 50 projection on more than one draft big board:

Those traits are outstanding treated individually and separately. But combined, they complete a versatile offensive weapon. And that is what the Rams love about him:

Rams beat writer Stu Jackson emphasized Ferguson's versatility with a simple but irrefutable set of statistics:

"While more than half of his (Terrance Ferguson) 575 offensive snaps across the regular season and post came lined up inline (306), he also lined up in the slot on 192 of those snaps and out wide on 70, according to Pro Football Focus."

Stu Jackson

From that alone, Ferguson can serve as a modern upgrade over former Rams WR Ben Skowronek.

But what I love about Terrance Ferguson's potential in the Rams offense is the fact that he scored 16 touchdowns in 53 games and 134 receptions. For comparison purposes, veteran tight end Colby Parkinson stands 6-foot-7, weighs 265 pounds, but runs the 40 in 4.77 seconds.

The Rams did well with a tight end room of Tyler Higbee, Gerald Everett, and Johnny Mundt. With the addition of Ferguson, the Rams' TE room can become Tyler Higbee, Terrance Ferguson, and Davis Allen. The odd man out in that scenario is veteran Colby Parkinson. The Rams struggled to find a TE combination that would work in 2024. With Terrance Ferguson's selection, the Rams just put Parkinson on notice not to get too comfortable this year.

As always, thanks for reading.

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