NFL.com's Ian Rapoport informed us a year ago that the St. Louis Rams were "insanely excited" about second-round wide receiver Brian Quick, whom position coach Ray Sherman compared to Terrell Owens. The Rams even had a higher draft grade on Quick than they had on No. 13 overall pick Michael Floyd.
Although Quick essentially was redshirted after struggling to master the playbook, he was expected to ascend to the starting lineup this offseason. That has yet to happen because Quick has an Austin Pettis problem.
Quick is "doing a lot better" and has "stepped up this year," offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said over the weekend, via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Even with the improvements, Quick is stuck in the fourth receiver role after Pettis' MVP performance in offseason practices.
"Quite honestly, (Pettis) is probably having the best camp of all the skill players," Schottenheimer said via the Rams' official website. "He's a tireless worker, very competitive, can play all the spots which helps and he's having a tremendous spring."
The Rams will enter training camp with Pettis and Chris Givens as the starting outside wide receivers and first-rounder Tavon Austin in the slot. We wouldn't count out Quick just yet, though. While Pettis' role grew down the stretch last season, his yards-per-reception average of 8.7 is damning. The Rams will have to weigh Pettis' reliability against Quick's considerable edge in play-making ability.
Follow Chris Wesseling on Twitter @ChrisWesseling.
