Do the Rams have another day 3 steal in Jordan Whittington?
The Los Angeles Rams had to lean on Puka Nacua in 2023 when Cooper Kupp started the season on PUP and now they’re doing it again with Jordan Whittington with both Nacua and Kupp on the sidelines. The sixth round pick out of Texas was targeted 10 times in Sunday’s loss to the Packers, gaining 89 yards on seven catches, and in the last two weeks he has 13 catches for 151 yards.
Hypothetically, if the Rams had to lean on Whittington for the entire season, the rookie could definitely be a 1,000-yard player just because of opportunities and the way he’s taken advantage of them so far. In fact, by analytics, Whittington has already been a top-30 receiver in the NFL.
Per Next Gen Stats, Whittington’s +11.6 EPA ranks as the 24th-best mark in the NFL so far this season and that is in spite of the fact that Whittington had no targets in Week 1 and was only seeing increased reps over the past two weeks.
Whittington’s EPA is the highest on the Rams offense, edging out Tutu Atwell’s +10.8, and is also higher than the likes of Stefon Diggs, George Kittle, Brian Thomas, Sam LaPorta, Amon-Ra St. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Mike Evans, and so on.
Part of what makes Whittington’s rookie season special is that he has 129 yards after the catch, 34th-most in the NFL, and he’s averaging 4.8 yards of separation, the 22nd-best mark in the NFL.
At this point it seems Whittington, who has caught 18 of 23 targets for 201 yards and is averaging 11.2 yards per catch, is a player who must remain in the game plan even after Kupp and Nacua return. Both he and Atwell have stepped up to the challenge, so when the Rams could have all four receivers healthy at the same time, in addition to Demarcus Robinson and Tyler Johnson, L.A.’s complement of weapons for Matthew Stafford won’t look so bad after all.
