LA Rams: 3 players crucial to Jared Goff’s success in 2020
By Ryan Heckman
1. Tight End Tyler Higbee
Five games. That’s it. Five games is all it took for Goff and the offense to figure out that Tyler Higbee should be an integral piece. Unfortunately, those five games came at the tail end of the season before the team could find a real groove and inch their way back into being a true contender.
If you look at this small — yet telling — sample size, 56 of Higbee’s 89 targets on the season came in the Rams’ final five games of the year. 522 of his 734 receiving yards came over those final five games, as well. That is just absurd when you think about it.
How did it take so long to figure out this guy needed to be a key cog in the offense?
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It is no surprise, then, that half of Goff’s season-long touchdown total came in his final five games of the year when Higbee was much more involved. Goff threw 11 touchdowns in those five games, after throwing zero in the three games prior.
There is a reason why the 6-foot-6 Higbee is being picked as this year’s version of George Kittle amongst fantasy football experts. He’s the complete package and the Rams have finally figured out how to deploy him — four seasons into his career.
If you get one thing from this entire piece, get this: Higbee must be a top-3 option in the Rams’ passing game, minimum.