Despite being a sixth-round selection this year, rookie wide receiver Jordan Whittington has impressed the Los Angeles Rams' coaching staff with how quickly he has begun to pick up the Rams' playbook.
According to Rams' offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, Whittington's pace at adjusting to what the coaching staff has thrown at the rookies has been impressive.
"First of all, all those rookies, we’re throwing them in a lot of different spots in a lot of different situations...maybe some a little bit more than others, but he’s doing a great job. You can tell he’s really taking what he’s learning in the classroom to the field."
In an interview with Stu Jackson of the Rams.com, Whittington credited his experience with the Texas offense as helping him adjust to the NFL.
"One thing that I can say I took from Texas, and I know that other receivers in my room (there) did, we learned concept-based, and I think that directly translates to this offense. So just learning it as a concept, the words change, but most of the concepts are somewhat similar. So I think we did a good job at Texas by learning concept-based."
Whittington is also excited to learn from Cooper Kupp and bounce ideas off of him as he grows into the NFL.
"That's exciting for me, just being able to learn the process again and go through everything these guys are going through. It's a lot of information in a short amount of time, so just trying to figure out how to be a professional, and I have like one of the best ones in my room. He's [Kupp] a really good guy, and he's not selfish with how he learns things. So him just teaching me how to learn and me just watching, I've been able to like learn different ways to learn throughout this process."
Whittington's special teams experience and ability to play all three receiver positions were the two biggest reasons general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay drafted Whittington last month, according to Jackson.
Whittington's presence and role is likely similar early on to how the Rams used Ben Skowronek, something that likely played a part in the team trading him a few weeks ago. Whittington brings plenty of physicality as a run blocker, something that the Rams have coveted among all of their wide receivers over the years (sans Tutu Atwell). Don't be surprised if Whittington vaults over players like Atwell and Tyler Johnson for snaps as a rookie.
