Rams must throw tight ends more rope to get the offense going

The Los Angeles Rams are carrying five tight ends on the 53-man roster. So far, the entire group has caught just four of passes for 31 yards. 19 of those yards came after the catch, meaning they averaged just three air yards per reception, and two air yards per attempt.

That's not going to cut it.

The key to finding success with multiple tight ends on the field is to create mismatches. Unfortunately, LA's offense was unable to scheme those mismatches against the San Francisco 49ers. Neither Terrance Ferguson (one target) nor Max Klare (inactive), the tight ends of the future, were even involved.

Last year's breakout star, Colby Parkinson, was corralled with just one just catch on three targets for six yards. That's a misuse of Parkinson's ability, and of the entire tight end room.

Why is there such a disconnect? Well, this isn't the first time the Rams roster has been misconfigured to support the game plan. Last season, LA paid wide receiver Tutu Atwell $10 million to sit on the bench. And the Rams carried four running backs while only using two in the offense.

That inefficiency will come back and bite them unless they play to the team's strengths.

Rams must make better use of tight ends in Week 2

Ramblin' Fan's John Sbisa suggested the offense should lean on multiple-tight-end sets more than ever, despite the formation's lack of success against 49ers, and it makes sense. LA failed to confuse San Francisco's defensive backs by sending a variety of tight ends out on routes.

And when tight ends did run routes, they stuck around so close to the line of scrimmage that defenses had no reason to play outside of the box.

Even fans in the stands can cover well enough when passes are thrown within five yards of the line of scrimmage. No athleticism is required to stand in place. The 49ers defense was more than happy to converge on tight ends who ran vanilla routes.

The Rams have the personnel to mix and match tight ends in a variety of roles. They would benefit tremendously from getting both Ferguson and Klare involved. The more the merrier.

Insanity is attempting to get different results with the same input. It's time to change up this offense, and Week 2 is the perfect time to do so.

As always, thanks for reading.

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