Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua each have missed the Rams’ last two games. Tutu Atwell led the team in targets for Week 3 and was second in targets for Week 4, converting those into 82 and 93 yards, the most for both contests.
Is he the new WR1?
He very well may be, as per NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Atwell is averaging 1.01 EPA per target, which ranks 10th among all wide receivers since 2016 with at least 10 targets in a season. That’s elite territory.
At five-foot-nine and 155 pounds, Atwell has normally been the “take-the-top-off-the-defense” guy with his 4.44 40-speed, buut the route tree has been diverse this year. There have been crossers over the middle, curls, slants, out routes and seam routes. He has one reception over 40 yards, two over 20 and six over 10.
We may have a contender for the alpha status, though. Jordan Whittington led the Rams with eight targets in Week 4. He ran 32 routes compared to 29 for Atwell, and he caught six passes for 62 yards. Whittington is 6-foot-1, 205 pounds and runs the 40 in 4.52 seconds. He received a ton of hype in the offseason and has delivered.
Whittington has a higher catch rate of 84.6% compared to 73.3% for Atwell, but Atwell is averaging 3.3 yards per route versus 2.0 for Whittington. The target rate is 22.4% for Atwell and 23.2% for Whittington, while both have been sure-handed, as Atwell only has one drop while Whittington had hauled in everything.
The edge goes to Atwell right now, and he has the higher ceiling, but I’d keep an eye on Whittington, as he could become a PPR monster.
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