The Touchback is launching a preview series for fantasy football this season. Today, we’re providing you with the LA Rams 2020 Fantasy Football Overview. Click here to read our other previews.
New uniforms, a new (albeit empty) stadium and a new running back are just a few of the changes in store for the LA Rams this season. However, their outlook for the 2020 fantasy football season is much more muted than it was at this time last year. That’s because Jared Goff was coming off a top-five season at the quarterback position, Todd Gurley was the highest scoring running back and Robert Woods finished as WR10 in .5 PPR leagues.
Woods was okay in 2019 but Goff was average, and Gurley’s arthritic knees failed him. Poor offensive line play was the main reason for the Rams decline last season. Unfortunately, they did nothing to address the problem during the offseason which means they are desperate for improvement from the linemen already on the roster.
It seems odd to say this because LA still went 9-7 last season, but 2020 feels like a referendum on Sean McVay. General managers were desperate to bring in coaches with any sort of connection to him during the 2019 offseason, but his luster dimmed a bit. Everyone wants to see if he can get the Rams’ offense back on track this season. Fantasy football managers will need to determine if they believe in McVay enough to invest in his team.
Related: Here’s what to know about the Arizona Cardinals in 2020
LA Rams 2020 Fantasy Football Overview: Players to watch
Stud – Robert Woods
Robert Woods has been extremely consistent under McVay, posting 86/1219/6 and 90/1134/2 receiving stat lines during the past two seasons. He has also rushed for more than 100 yards in 2018 and 2019, a nice little bonus. Despite a pair of top-20 WR seasons, Woods is still available in the fourth round and even later in most drafts, often being drafted behind the next player in this article.
Dud – Cooper Kupp
Cooper Kupp finished as WR4 in both .5 and full-point formats, but his season had two distinct parts. In the first eight weeks of 2019, he was getting double-digit targets and had five 100-yard games. After the Rams bye week, he only had one game with more than six targets. That stretch included an awful four targets, zero catch showing in week ten.
The only thing keeping Kupp afloat during the second half of the year was touchdowns. He closed the fantasy season catching TD passes in four consecutive games, an unsustainable performance. Kupp’s output was impacted by McVay’s shift to using two tight end sets as opposed to three wide receiver looks. Given the fact Brandin Cooks was traded, it seems that the Rams will continue to focus on keeping more tight ends on the field which limits the upside of Kupp.
Sleeper – Cam Akers
The Touchback loves Cam Akers and we are betting on him to win NFL Rookie of the Year. In terms of fantasy, the case for Akers is simple. They drafted him in the second round and was their first selection this year. Todd Gurley has recorded 19, 21 and 14 touchdown seasons in the past three years and someone will need to pick up his workload. Darrell Henderson looks like a guy stuck in quicksand and Malcom Brown is a backup-level player. Akers has all the makings of a league winner in 2020 assuming he wins the job.
Wildcard – Tyler Higbee
At this point you have probably read countless articles and Twitter threads explaining the case for and against Tyler Higbee this season. Could he be a top-five tight end in 2020? Absolutely. Could he end up outside the top-10. Absolutely. He is a complete wild card. If you’re looking for some guys going a lot later in drafts with just as much upside, checkout our list of the top tight end sleepers in 2020.
LA Rams 2020 Fantasy Football Overview final thoughts
The Rams don’t have the offensive line talent to replicate their 2018 performance when they were scoring for fun. On the flipside, they should still be one of the better offensive teams in the NFL with guys like Woods and potentially Akers being top-20 players at their respective positions.
