Terrance Ferguson has rare window to prove himself early in Rams' 2025 schedule

Have the Rams ever worked a tight end that hard?

Rookies do not just show up and play elite NFL football. They need plenty of work. And that is something that Rams fans will simply need to accept. Detroit Lions rookie Sam LaPorta shocked the NFL by starting and catching all five passes thrown his way for 39 yards in his season opener. But he did not start in Week 3. Instead, he exploded against the Seattle Seahawks for eight of eleven receptions for 84 yards and his first NFL touchdown. But in Week 6, he could only muster four of eleven catches for 36 yards.

Rookies are not consistent.

But the Lions stuck with LaPorta. He ended his rookie season by hauling in 86 of 120 passes for 889 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns.

In all of 2024, all four Rams tight ends combined for 51 receptions out of 83 targets for 459 yards and three touchdowns. So, more changes need to happen in the Rams' offensive strategy to get more out of the tight end position than simply sending Terrance Ferguson onto the football field.

And to be fair, the Rams have never targeted a single tight end as often as the Lions targeted LaPorta in his rookie season. The most targets any single Rams tight end has been targeted in a Sean McVay offense is 108 targets to Tyler Higbee in 2022. And Higbee was not particularly effective that year.

The only time that I can recall the Rams giving any tight end a heavy workload was December 2019. In that month, a depleted Rams offense pivoted to 12-personnel and targeted TE Tyler Higbee 56 times. Higbee responded with 43 receptions, 522 receiving yards, and two touchdowns. It was the most productive period for a tight end in Sean McVay's history with the Rams.

Ironically, it has never been repeated.

Were Gerald Everett and Tyler Higbee simply not good enough to warrant larger roles in this offense? It's hard to envision smaller roles for such outstanding wide receivers like Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Brandin Cooks, Puka Nacua, and even Odell Beckham Jr. to find out. The Rams have always played the cards dealt to them. And with aces at wide receiver, there was never the right opportunity to feature the kings at tight end.