Fantasy Analysis: St. Louis Rams

Welcome back Football Fanatics! Brandon had been out for a while, so he did a double post yesterday. I won't be trying that today; ya'll can hardly stand one of my posts, I know. But, here it is! There's been a lot of discussion of the Rams and their shiny, new, explosive, speed- based attack. Will QB Sam Bradford play well enough to justify the Rams faith in him, and keep his job? Could they even (gasp!)

 provide more than one must- own fantasy player? We'll discuss that and more on today's Fantasy Analysis!

Sam Bradford

There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about drafting Bradford. New additions Tavon Austin and Jared Cook, as well as new featured players Isaiah Pead and Chris Givens, promise a more exciting, high- octane attack. For the first time, Bradford has the same offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer. They’ve promised to recreate Bradford’s old college spread- offense attack, the one that helped make him the No.1 overall pick in 2010. Bradford finished the year on a tear, and set career highs in yards (3702), TD passes (21), and YPA (6.7).  Let’s not forget Bradford’s ADP of 121.9, the 20^th QB off the board. In a make- it- or- break- it year for Bradford, he has the potential to give owners a profit.

Daryl Richardson, Isaiah Pead, Zac Stacy

Richardson started off the season hot, with 62 rushes for 335 yards (5.4Y PC). However, Richardson only had 24 touches over the Rams final 5 games, grabbing an anemic 70 yards. The Rams have talked up Isaiah Pead all offseason long, and clearly prefer him as the early- down back. That’s not to say Richardson still couldn’t beat out Pead- Pead has a one- game suspension and a grand 13 total NFL touches- but he’ll have to have a strong preseason for that to happen. Stacy is a bruising back with little burst, but the Rams traded up to get him, and the Rams’ beat writers seem to think there’s a strong probability he’ll handle the short- down work. We wouldn’t disagree with them, but again, like this whole backfield, it’s a situation to monitor in the preseason. The three backs have very similar ADP’s (Pead RB52, Richardson RB53, Stacy RB54), so it’s really a matter of preference at this point.

Chris Givens, Tavon Austin, Brian Quick, Austin Pettis

Givens emerged as the Rams most reliable receiver and best deep threat last year. Though he didn’t finish high in the receiver rankings due to inconsistency, Givens flashed some solid potential, highlighted by efforts such as Week 12 against Arizona (5/115/1), and Week 13 against San Francisco (8/92/0). He’ll be asked to play more than just the “Z” speed receiver, also playing inside on occasion, but it’s tough to envision him performing much better than he did. He is what he is. Tavon Austin is the new Juaquan Iglesias in the Bradford passing attack, a shifty, speedy slot receiver. Iglesias put up a 74/1150/10 stat line in college, and while those numbers can be tapered a bit, because its college, it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see a 70/900/8 line from Austin in his first year. Just recognize that he’s a rookie receiver coming out of a less- talented NCAA division, and there is a possibility of a slow start to the season before a hot finish. Keep him stashed on your bench until the breakout happens; he has a lot of potential and should be drafted as a high- upside WR3. Quick was the Rams second- round pick in the 2012 draft. He was considered to be unbelievably skilled, but came from a small school, and would have trouble adjusting to higher competition. Well, he’s had a year to adjust, but he was still beat out in OTA’s by Austin Pettis. If he wins the job, he’ll have value as a short- yardage/redzone threat. Pettis, who despite coming off of a strong performance in minicamp, stands to have little value if he wins the job.

Jared Cook

Underutilized by the Tennesse Titans for a long time, Cook now steps into an offense that promises to give him a featured role. Cook has far- and- away earned this promotion, putting up big stats when given the chance. He has sneaky low- end TE1 potential.

Greg Zuerlein

Zuerlein took the league by storm, going a perfect 15- for- 15 on his first field goal attempts, including 5 from 50+. However, he cooled after that, making only 8 of his next 16. In fact, he only finished as the 25^th ranked kicker in standard fantasy scoring, due in part to this late- season inaccuracy and the Rams struggle to score as a whole. The last part of the equation should be fixed, so it’s up to Greg “The Leg” to make more than 74% of his field goals to have fantasy value. He’s a sneaky kicker with upside.