Solid points....
I'm of the school of thought that the "blame" for our offense not continuing to be explosive lays in the perceived limitations of McVay with Goff........and McVay's inexperience as a play-caller to adjust to what defenses were doing to thwart our 11 heavy sets. McVay was a play caller in Washington for 1 season I believe before he got the Rams job, so we are not talking about a seasoned veteran play caller as much as we have a very young, talented play call who is learning as he gains experience in the role. Running 11 formation so much more than any other team, to me, was a sign of that inexperience even when it was working well. Now I also believe that McVay felt he was limited with what Goff could do, but I still say we were slow to adjust.
I'm always going to believe we had the deep threat on our roster in Josh Reynolds, and the Everett was a talent that we didn't utilize as we should have. Again, McVay and Goff to me have a lot of responsibilty in that, more than I believe that those guys lacked talent. They both made big plays for us when given the opportunity, but they didn't get as many opportunities as they should have, and our dead money meant that we weren't going to see them in an offense with a QB like Stafford.
I think that between Hopkins and Kendall Blanton, we should be fine at the TE position and I wouldn't be surprised if Blanton passed Mundt on the depth chart with a real preseason with preseason games. Blanton's size and skillset makes him really valuable if he can take advantage of his opportunity...we kept him on the practice squad for 2 years for a reason...and I could actually see Hopkins becoming more of a hybrid WR/TE and filling that "big WR" spot that we no longer have after Reynolds left. Reynolds said after leaving it will be nice to run more than just the hitches the Rams had him running his last year.
I'd also add that Cooper Kupp's early success in the slot got McVay too locked in on the 11 formations, and in hindsight led to some predictability with us. To be perfectly honest, McVay's first year with the Rams saw him being a more diverse play caller than the last couple of years, and he got more predictable as the years progressed. A more varied approach, and a commitment to running the ball...using both Akers and Henderson, is more advisable, and I think we're likely to see that this year with Stafford who is more skilled and can read defenses and make adjustments better.
