Rams need to use Jordan Whittington in the playoffs
The Los Angeles Rams fell to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 18 to fall to the four seed in the NFC heading into the playoffs. While the team played a majority of their backups in the game, there were some standout performances. One of those performances came from wide receiver Jordan Whittington. With Whittington’s standout performance, there is good reason to believe that he should get more of a role in the postseason. Here is this week’s stock report.
Stock Up: WR Jordan Whittington
At this point, it’s fair to wonder if Jordan Whittington should be taking some snaps from Cooper Kupp in the Rams offense. Multiple things can be true at the same time here. We can recognize and be appreciative of what Kupp has done for the Rams in the past. He still has value in the offense on important downs. At the same time, he is probably more of a role player and contributor than a featured piece in an offense at this point in his career.
While it may be a difficult decision, the Rams need to find ways to get Jordan Whittington involved in the playoffs. It’s very possible that he could end up being the team’s x-factor as teams don’t have a lot of tape on him. That’s not to say that he should completely replace Kupp in the offense. There’s a balance that the Rams can find here and it’s possible to get both players involved.
Stock Down: Rams running backs
The Rams tried their best to stay healthy heading into the playoffs and did a pretty good job. However, the one injury that did occur was at running back. Rookie Blake Corum fractured his forearm, ending his rookie season. While the Rams are primarily a one running back team, the injury to Corum will hurt their running back depth.
Corum only had six games this season with five or more carries. At the same time, he was starting to carve out a small role in the offense. Without Corum, the Rams are back in the situation they were in last year. That situation is that if Kyren Williams goes down, they don’t have a player that can be relied on to carry the running game. It was the primary reason why they drafted Corum in the third round. The Rams will have to hope now that Williams stays healthy throughout the postseason.
Stock Up: K Joshua Karty
There were times this season in which Joshua Karty and the field goal unit as a whole was inconsistent. Still, the Rams played the long game with Karty and remained patient. Over the past month, it looks as though they may have found an answer to their kicker issues. Inside of 45 yards, Karty was someone that the Rams had no problems sending out for a field goal. However, beyond 50, there was still some hesitation and lack of overall confidence.
Karty showed on Sunday against the Seahawks, that he has the leg and accuracy from long-distance. With a light breeze through SoFi, Karty made kicks from 57 and 58 yards. Given how Karty has performed over the last month, there should be a growing confidence in the Rams rookie kicker. The playoffs will be another test, but Karty should be going in with a hot leg.
Stock Down: Path to the Super Bowl
This is not to say that the Rams should not have rested their starters in Week 18. At the same time, some paths to the Super Bowl are easier than others. For example, had the Rams had to travel to Lambeau Field back in 2021 instead of host the 49ers, that likely would have been a tougher matchup. By losing to the Seahawks on Sunday, the Rams locked up the four seed in the NFC. That will give them the 14-win Vikings and then likely the 15-win and top-seeded Detroit Lions in the divisional round.
As the third seed, the Rams would have faced a rookie quarterback and then there would have been a better chance to host a playoff game next week if the Packers beat the Eagles. Even if the Rams had to travel to Philadelphia, this version of the Rams has shown the ability to win in the elements and grind out games. They may match up better with the Eagles on grass than on turf. Either way, you have to play good teams eventually, but that doesn’t mean some paths aren’t more attractive.
Stock Up: G Jonah Jackson
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens with Jonah Jackson this offseason. Jackson was mishandled with the Rams. The original plan to move Steve Avila to center was thrown out the window late and Jackson was asked to play a position he hadn’t been in since early in his college career. When he did play left guard, the result wasn’t great.
In all likelihood, the Rams move on from Jackson this offseason via either cut or trade. He performed well at right guard on Sunday which will hopefully give him some trade value heading into the offseason. That value may still be a 2027 day three pick swap, but that is still better than the alternative of cutting him outright.