St. Louis Rams Closing Evaluations: What Grades Do the Wide Receivers Receive?
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The Rams also had two receivers, Austin Pettis and Damian Williams, who didn’t last in 2014.
Pettis, who was one of only three members of the 2011 draft class still remaining on the Rams’ roster, already went into the season with the odds against him considering his lack of speed or explosiveness. After Pettis had two costly drops during a would-be comeback drive in the closing minutes of the Rams’ Week 5 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, he quickly fell out of favor. He went on to struggle with an injury, and after being late to a team meeting before the Rams’ Week 7 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, he was made a healthy inactive for the game and promptly released afterward.
Pettis finished with 12 catches for 118 yards and a touchdown, actually semi-good numbers for a backup receiver who only played in six games. When it comes down to it, however, the most memorable moment of Pettis’s season (and perhaps his Rams career) will be the horrible drops that cost the Rams a victory in Philadelphia.
When the Rams lost Brian Quick after seven games, they filled his spot on the roster with veteran receiver Damian Williams, who was drafted by Jeff Fisher in 2010 and had a stint with the Miami Dolphins in 2014 before joining the Rams. The 26-year-old’s time with the Rams was rather disappointing, as he saw minimal special teams action in two games, then somehow suffered a hamstring injury. Williams was inactive for the next two games, then was released when the Rams promoted Justice Cunningham from their practice squad to prevent him from being poached by another team.
The team also had four different receivers—Emory Blake, Devon Wylie, Justin Veltung, and Kadron Boone—occupy positions on the practice squad at various points in 2014. Blake, who has spent the majority of the past two years on the practice squad, and Wylie, a fourth-rounder of the Chiefs in 2012, have been signed to futures contracts and are set to compete for spots on next year’s roster.