I’m out on the Rams. I don’t think they’re making the playoffs, and I don’t think they’ve got a receiver who can step up into a Puka Lite role for the next month.
The Nacua injury, coupled with Davante Adams likely being out until early December, I think removes this team from consideration. There will be five teams making the postseason out of the NFC West and NFC North divisions, and I can’t see the Rams making it into the top 5 of a group including the 49ers, Seahawks, Bears, Packers, Vikings and Lions.
With the offense, I am a big believer in coaches and schemes. Sean McVay is a coach who can plug players into a role and make them look good. But talent has to count for something, and the Rams don’t have a wide receiver who looks capable of stepping in and catching a half dozen passes per game.
Konata Mumpfield will be getting plucked off waiver wires, and I’ll concede that makes some sense in larger leagues, because who really knows? But I don’t expect it will amount to much.
There have been eight games in the last two years where either Nacua or Adams has been sidelined, and Mumpfield hasn’t done much in those games, catching only 13 of 30 targets for 190 yards, with one touchdown. They caught Riley Moss guessing at Denver earlier this year, with Mumpfield getting deep for a 48-yard touchdown. Mumpfield also dropped a pass in that game.
But I’m not even 100 percent certain he’ll even be the Rams’ leading receiver. I remember Jordan Whittington looking very Nacua-like in the 2024 preseason, catching 11 passes for 126 yards in two games. He’s bigger and more physical. (Moot point though, because Whittington was placed on IR yesterday.)
They’ve also got Tutu Atwell, who’s got seven games with at least 5 catches on his resume. He’s got more speed than their other guys, but he’s awfully small.
Ultimately, it’s a losing bet, I think. In the last five years, there have been 38 games where Mumpfield, Whittington or Atwell was on the field for at least half of the team’s plays. They combined for 112 catches for 1,322 yards in those 38 games, with just 4 TDs.
| LESSER RECEIVERS WITH 50 PERCENT SNAP SHARES | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Year | Opp | Result | Tgt | No | Yards | Avg | TD | PPR | Snap% |
| Atwell | 2023 | at Dall. | L, 20-43 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 10.5 | 0 | 4.1 | 96.8 |
| Whittington | 2024 | at Chi. | L, 18-24 | 8 | 6 | 62 | 10.3 | 0 | 12.2 | 96.7 |
| Atwell | 2023 | S.F. | L, 23-30 | 9 | 7 | 77 | 11.0 | 0 | 14.7 | 93.8 |
| Atwell | 2022 | at Sea. | L, 16-19 | 3 | 2 | 27 | 13.5 | 0 | 4.7 | 93.4 |
| Whittington | 2025 | at Balt. | W, 17-3 | 4 | 3 | 23 | 7.7 | 0 | 5.3 | 92.5 |
| Atwell | 2023 | at S.F. | W, 21-20 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 0 | 2.7 | 92.5 |
| Whittington | 2024 | G.B. | L, 19-24 | 10 | 7 | 89 | 12.7 | 0 | 15.9 | 92.3 |
| Atwell | 2024 | at Chi. | L, 18-24 | 6 | 4 | 82 | 20.5 | 0 | 12.2 | 90.2 |
| Atwell | 2023 | Phi. | L, 14-23 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 4.5 | 1 | 8.9 | 89.3 |
| Atwell | 2023 | Sea. | W, 17-16 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 17.0 | 0 | 2.7 | 88.1 |
| Atwell | 2023 | Ari. | W, 26-9 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 30.0 | 0 | 4.0 | 87.7 |
| Atwell | 2023 | at Cin. | L, 16-19 | 9 | 4 | 50 | 12.5 | 1 | 15.0 | 87.3 |
| Atwell | 2022 | at G.B. | L, 12-24 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 0 | 2.0 | 84.4 |
| Atwell | 2022 | at LAC | L, 10-31 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 5.0 | 0 | 3.0 | 83.7 |
| Atwell | 2024 | G.B. | L, 19-24 | 10 | 6 | 58 | 9.7 | 0 | 11.8 | 80.8 |
| Whittington | 2025 | Ind. | W, 27-20 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 | 1.7 | 80.0 |
| Atwell | 2023 | at Sea. | W, 30-13 | 8 | 6 | 119 | 19.8 | 0 | 17.9 | 79.0 |
| Atwell | 2024 | L.V. | W, 20-15 | 9 | 6 | 51 | 8.5 | 0 | 11.1 | 78.2 |
| Atwell | 2023 | at Ind. | W, 29-23 | 9 | 5 | 24 | 4.8 | 0 | 7.4 | 78.0 |
| Atwell | 2024 | S.F. | W, 27-24 | 5 | 4 | 93 | 23.3 | 0 | 13.3 | 74.1 |
| Atwell | 2023 | Pitt. | L, 17-24 | 2 | 1 | 31 | 31.0 | 1 | 10.1 | 73.5 |
| Mumpfield | 2026 | at Den. | L, 26-30 | 8 | 4 | 93 | 23.3 | 1 | 19.3 | 73.3 |
| Mumpfield | 2026 | NYG | W, 28-6 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | 2.2 | 69.4 |
| Atwell | 2022 | Den. | W, 51-14 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 7.0 | 0 | 3.4 | 69.2 |
| Atwell | 2023 | at G.B. | L, 3-20 | 7 | 4 | 13 | 3.3 | 0 | 5.3 | 67.2 |
| Atwell | 2025 | S.F. | L, 23-26 | 4 | 2 | 72 | 36.0 | 0 | 9.2 | 66.2 |
| Mumpfield | 2025 | at Atl. | L, 24-27 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 5.0 | 0 | 3.0 | 66.2 |
| Whittington | 2025 | at Ten. | W, 33-19 | 2 | 2 | 42 | 21.0 | 0 | 6.2 | 63.9 |
| Atwell | 2022 | L.V. | W, 17-16 | 9 | 5 | 50 | 10.0 | 0 | 10.0 | 60.9 |
| Whittington | 2025 | T.B. | W, 34-7 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 5.7 | 0 | 4.7 | 60.7 |
| Whittington | 2025 | at Jac. | W, 35-7 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 4.5 | 0 | 2.9 | 60.0 |
| Atwell | 2024 | Sea. | L, 25-30 | 8 | 5 | 37 | 7.4 | 0 | 8.7 | 54.5 |
| Atwell | 2022 | at K.C. | L, 10-26 | 2 | 2 | 23 | 11.5 | 0 | 4.3 | 51.9 |
| Whittington | 2024 | at Ari. | L, 10-41 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 11.0 | 0 | 4.2 | 50.0 |
| Whittington | 2025 | at Phi. | L, 26-33 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 0 | 2.7 | 50.0 |
| Whittington | 2026 | at Phi. | W, 24-20 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | 1.4 | 50.0 |
| Mumpfield | 2026 | LAC | W, 24-9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | .0 | 50.0 |
| Whittington | 2025 | Hou. | W, 14-9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | .0 | 50.0 |
—Ian Allan
