The St. Louis Rams entered this season with a group of wide receivers boasting just 1,371 career yards combined. Four teams since 1991 came into a campaign with less real estate at the position.
With or without Sam Bradford at the controls, St. Louis struggled to move the ball through the air in 2013, throwing for fewer yards (3,125) than 26 other NFL teams. The Rams' leading receiver was Jared Cook, a tight end, and no wideout accounted for more than 40 receptions or 600 yards.
Despite those ill results, general manager Les Snead doesn't believe the Rams need to hunt for a proven No. 1 receiver.
"I go back to this and the answer is really 'no' on that," Snead said last week, per Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com. "I think our receivers right now, I truly believe as they progress and the oldest guy just finished his third year, we cannot have another receiver around here and we're going to be a good football team."
St. Louis hasn't had a receiver cross the 700-yard mark since Torry Holt did the deed in 2008. Snead, however, isn't married to statistics, emphasizing that "teams win" -- not players -- saying: "We're in this fantasy football type age, and I think if you look at seven of the top 10 pass catchers, seven of the top 10 didn't make the playoffs."
Still, Tavon Austin was widely expected to blow up as a rookie, only to stay stuck in the mud for much of the season in coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's vanilla air attack.
Flashes of potential from Brian Quick and leading wideout Chris Givens have the Rams holding out hope that one of their many draft picks will bloom. St. Louis used a first-rounder on Austin last April and spent a second on Quick and a fourth on Givens in 2012. The Rams dropped a third-round pick on Austin Pettis the season before and made Cook their big offseason free-agent acquisition in March.
Snead's message is clear: He isn't in the mood to burn another high pick when so much young potential -- albeit entirely unproven -- already sits on the roster.
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