Los Angeles Rams fantasy preview

Warren Sharp’s Strength of Schedule: Warren Sharp projects the Rams to face the NFL’s 14th-easiest overall offensive schedule.

Must Draft

Now that his ADP has somewhat stabilized after drafters discovered him, Darrell Henderson could be the next 10-touch per game, big-bodied air-back to take the league by storm. 5’8” and 208 lbs and near impossible speed. An underutilized measurement of football speed is the 10-yard split of the 40-yard dash. Tyreek Hill’s 10-yard split? 1.50 seconds. Chris Johnson’s? 1.40 seconds. Darrell Henderson? 1.42 seconds. This man is in elite company. Rest assured, Sean McVay is going to get the ball in this man’s hands -- in space. Prepare for takeoff.

Good Values

Both Robert Woods and Brandin Cooks are good values at their 3rd Round ADPs .5PPR and PPR -- the 3rd Round is too rich in Standard with a bevvy of bell cow backs and George Kittle available though. It’s worth noting that with Cooper Kupp on the field, the Rams (per Sharp) ran 3-wide receiver set 96% of the time last year. However, this offseason the Rams have been heavily preparing far more 2-wide receiver, 2-tight end sets. Kupp’s rehab has reportedly gone well, this is a crowded receiving corps though and if tight end Gerald Everrett is finally going to get involved, we can expect Kupp’s workload to be somewhat scaled back.

Monitor

Others, even at Fake Teams, will disagree with me but I’ll make my claim here: We know that Todd Gurley is not worth a 1st or 2nd Round pick. We’ve got 7 games of evidence from 2018 that show us what to expect. A “healthy” Gurley is a Gurley who could get 18+ touches per game or ride the pine while spelling other backs for as little as 12 touches per game. His knee is deteriorating and the new normal is not bankable. A safe assumption is that he operates as the lead back in a 2-3 back committee, assuming 30-40% of the backfield’s work. Given the prowess of the offense, even that amount can be highly valuable at the right price -- but that price is much more as a Boom/Bust RB2 than it is a Top 24 pick. If he tumbles in your draft, take him. If he doesn’t, swim for warmer waters and let someone else put up goose eggs from their RB1 spot from time to time.

As mentioned above, keep an eye on tight end Gerald Everrett.

Malcolm Brown would likely assume the lead back role should Gurley miss time.

Avoid

Logging back-to-back results of QB12 and QB8 in 2017 and 2018, Jared Goff deserves respect in the fantasy world. His QB8-10, 7th-8th Round ADP selection though is a bit rich. We can mine value in the later rounds. You’re drafting Goff at his ceiling here, which is too high for any quarterback.