When Sean McVay and the Rams acquired Matthew Stafford in a trade with the Lions, they received one of the most naturally gifted quarterbacks in the league. With the Rams, Stafford finally gets a legitimate offensive mind to call the shots and Sean McVay will now have an elite arm that can make every throw on the field. As a result of this acquisition, the Rams’ fantasy weapons, highlighted by Robert Woods, will get significant 2021 fantasy boosts.
Woods is coming off a very solid, yet inconsistent fantasy season that saw him finish with 936 yards and six touchdowns on 90 receptions — good for WR12 in half PPR fantasy leagues.
For the first time in a long time, Stafford will benefit from a tough running game to keep defenses off-balance. According to NFL.com, McVay dialed up play-action on 33 percent (fifth most) of the Rams’ plays last year, compared to the Lions’ 24 percent. On those play-action passes, Stafford completed 60.5 percent of his passes, averaged 8.6 yards per attempt, and averaged 11.1 air yards per throw. By comparison, Goff only averaged 6.7 air yards per throw on play-action.
McVay’s love for the play-action pass will not only give Stafford an immediate lift, but also Woods, who led the Rams in targets, receptions, yards, and touchdowns on play-action passes last season.
But even without play-action, Stafford is one of, if not the best, deep ball throwers in the league.
According to PFF, Stafford has completed a league-high 11 passes thrown at least 50 yards in the air since he was drafted in 2009. By comparison, no other quarterback has more than eight during this time period.
Not only does Stafford have one of the best deep balls in the league, but he is a major, major upgrade over Goff in that same category. Goff ranked 32nd in the league with a disgusting 27.1 deep ball completion percentage in 2020 and that came after a 29.6 percent performance in 2019. Meanwhile, Stafford completed 42.6 percent of his deep balls even with Kenny Golladay missing over 75 percent of the season.
According to the guys at Gridiron Experts, Woods has made the most out of his subpar situation with Goff at quarterback. Over the last two seasons, Bobby Trees has finished outside the top-65 in catchable pass percentage, and if you subtract those uncatchable passes, he’s ranked in the top-12 over the last two seasons in true catch rate. He’s also finished in the top-five in yards after the catch over the last two seasons.
Overall, Woods is getting a clear upgrade at quarterback with the arrival of Stafford and expect a potential WR1 season out of Mr. Trees.
Keep an eye on The Wolf’s 2021 Fantasy Football Rankings & Big Board to see where Woods, and the rest of the Rams land in the next update.
