Coats: Gibson is an early standout among Rams receivers

[Nick]

Gibson is an early standout among Rams receivers
BY BILL COATS • Posted: Wednesday, August 3, 2011 12:30 am

With 12 wide receivers on hand for Rams training camp and probably no more than six spots available on the regular-season roster, the competition promises to be intense.

Bring it on, says third-year pro Brandon Gibson.

"You've got to like the competition; it's what's best for the team," Gibson. Besides, he added, "There's nothing you can do about it. Just go out there and play every day."

Over the first four days of camp, Gibson has kicked off a strong bid for a job. He's been working mostly with the first-team offense, which, Gibson pointed out, doesn't mean much this early.

"I don't want to get too excited in this process," he said. "I'm just going to try to stay level."

Despite a couple of missteps during Tuesday's 2½-hour practice in stifling heat, Gibson has been cobbling together a strong showing.

"Everything he's done, he's done it a hundred miles an hour," coach Steve Spagnuolo said. "He's almost to the point where he's worn himself out a little bit. But I know one thing: The quarterback has a lot of confidence in him."

Gibson was one of the beneficiaries of the arrival of No. 1 overall draft pick Sam Bradford, who threw for 3,512 yards last year and was named Associated Press offensive rookie of the year.

The 6-foot, 210-pound Gibson, a sixth-round draft pick out of Washington State, nearly boosted his totals significantly from his rookie year, when he was acquired in a trade from Philadelphia just over a month into the season.

Gibson had 53 catches, an increase of 19 from 2009, and piled up 620 yards after getting 348 the year before. He was second among the Rams to Danny Amendola in receptions and yards.

Still, Gibson wasn't celebrating his individual accomplishments. The 16-6 season-ending loss at Seattle, which deprived the Rams of a playoff spot, "left a bad taste in my mouth," Gibson said. "I want to get another shot at winning the NFC West."

To close in on that goal, the Rams will have to exploit the offense brought by new coordinator Josh McDaniels. He was head coach in Denver in 2009 and part of 2010, and before that served as offensive coordinator under Bill Belichick in New England.

McDaniels' system is "intricate, it's detailed, it's complex," Gibson said. "It's going to be great. You saw last year with Denver and in years past with the Patriots, it can be very explosive."

It also relies heavily on multi-wideout sets, something that naturally pleases Gibson. "But I think in any offense there's opportunities," he said. "You've just got to make the most of them."

And that's the plan, as he heads into year two with Bradford.

"That was one of my goals, to pick up where I left off last year," Gibson said. "So hopefully we can continue to get better and better."

Bartell hurt

Ron Bartell, the team's top cornerback, left practice early with what Spagnuolo called a "mild sprain" of his ankle. "The X-rays were negative. But we'll see. You never know till the next day," Spagnuolo said.

Justin King took over for Bartell with the first-team defense.

Linebacker Jabara Williams (knee) and safety Mikail Baker (knee) sat out practice. Defensive end Robert Quinn, the Rams' first-round draft pick who is recovering from a sprained knee, again worked on the side with head trainer Reggie Scott.

"I think the knee's coming around," Spagnuolo said. "There's a little bit of conditioning we've got left to do. We're going to be smart. We've gotten this far. He's champing at the bit to go, but we're kind of pulling him back right now."

day of rest

The players get a day off today — no practice and no meetings.

"What Reggie had studied last year was right about this practice — and tomorrow if we had one — is about when you get those soft-tissue injuries. So far we've stayed away from a few of those," Spagnuolo said. "More than anything, we're using it as a rest, recovery, mental — the whole thing — so that we can come out here Thursday and probably go after it a little bit harder."

ram-blings

The team was in full pads Tuesday for the second day in a row. ... Defensive tackle Arthur Thomas, an undrafted rookie from Arkansas-Pine Bluff, has been released.

[sosa39rams]

Boy I like Brandon Gibson, though I don't see much room for him on the roster. We have way to many WR's, so someone with potential will be gone. I think our best option would be to trade Gibson and Gilyard.

[r8rh8rmike]

I've always been a big Gibson supporter, but he has to translate this to actual games in the preseason in a big way to survive IMO. Glowing reports in camp are nice to hear, but not worth much. I still remember the gushing camp reports on Kennedy and Hargrove that we heard every year, only to result in disappointed.

[RAMarkable]

I've always been a big Gibson supporter, but he has to translate this to actual games in the preseason in a big way to survive IMO. Glowing reports in camp are nice to hear, but not worth much. I still remember the gushing camp reports on Kennedy and Hargrove that we heard every year, only to result in disappointed.

Gaaaahh!! Stop with the cold hard slap of reality, you're ruining my fantasy!!

[RamBamThankYouMam]

Good to hear. I am pulling for him to make the opening day roster.

[RamsInfiniti]

The amazing part to me is I see so many people saying that they don't think Gibson will make the team, or they imply that these rookie wide receivers, or Avery, or DX, or anybody else, we have for that matter, is a superior receiver ...

Gibson, a sixth round pick, had 53 catches and 600+ yards in 14 games last year. This playing in that ultra conservative Shurmur offense ...

Gibson dropped 8 passes last year, 6 of those in his first 2 games. So, the argument that he has bad hands is poor at best ....

Over 16 games, that would have put him at roughly 60 catches and 700 yards ...

Why anyone would want to get rid of a 3rd year player with that production, particularly one who apparently has been going balls to the wall at camp according to Spags and most recently Craig Dahl on Twitter, is far beyond me ....

[mcpeepants232003]

^ Most people just don't see much upside for Gibson. A lot of people also think he's been a standout because he's been getting so much reps. It's also believed that he's on the bubble and McDaniels is giving him a ton of reps to see if he wants to cut him or not.

Gibson just seems to be a solid receiver and that's it. He's not big, not particularly fast, doesn't have the best hands and on. At best I see him as a solid possession receiver.

[RamsInfiniti]

^ Most people just don't see much upside for Gibson. A lot of people also think he's been a standout because he's been getting so much reps. It's also believed that he's on the bubble and McDaniels is giving him a ton of reps to see if he wants to cut him or not.

Gibson just seems to be a solid receiver and that's it. He's not big, not particularly fast, doesn't have the best hands and on. At best I see him as a solid possession receiver.

Everyone said the same things about Brandon Lloyd. Yes, that guy, who had 160 catches his first 7 seasons in the league.

"It's believed that Gibson is on the bubble." Says who? Because some people on a message board said so??

There's a reason why most people aren't NFL coaches or talent evaluators.

It's OK to be wrong ....

[mcpeepants232003]

Everyone said the same things about Brandon Lloyd. Yes, that guy, who had 160 catches his first 7 seasons in the league.

There's a reason why most people aren't NFL coaches or talent evaluators.

It's OK to be wrong ....

and how exactly am I wrong? Gibson hasn't proven anything yet. There are tons of second year receivers who put up decent numbers because there are no other options and then never put up comparable numbers. You should probably wait for Gibson to prove he's better than average before telling everyone I told you so in half of the posts you make about him.

Btw funny how you take the balls to the walls comparison from the recent camp thoughts but then don't mention he's been dropping balls again.

[RamsInfiniti]

and how exactly am I wrong? Gibson hasn't proven anything yet. There are tons of second year receivers who put up decent numbers because there are no other options and then never put up comparable numbers. You should probably wait for Gibson to prove he's better than average before telling everyone I told you so in half of the posts you make about him.

Btw funny how you take the balls to the walls comparison from the recent camp thoughts but then don't mention he's been dropping balls again.

Every single receiver in camp has been dropping balls. Salas dropped 3 yesterday, Kendricks dropped 2. Avery is sitting out half of practice to rest his knee? Does that mean he's weak?

You missed the point about being wrong. Many are so quick to write a player off, then subconsciously, no matter how well they are doing, they want them to fail because they don't want to be wrong.

Every piece of media coming out about Gibson relates to how hard he's working, how impressive he's been, how he's working himself to exhaustion, how the quarterback has extreme confidence in him ...

Yet, he's a bubble guy who the coaches are giving reps to see if they want to cut him? Laughable ....

And for those that don't know.

That Brandon Lloyd guy that McDaniels turned into a superstar - is 6-0, 194 lbs, and runs a 4.62 40 yard dash.

[sosa39rams]

Every single receiver in camp has been dropping balls. Salas dropped 3 yesterday, Kendricks dropped 2. Avery is sitting out half of practice to rest his knee? Does that mean he's weak?

You missed the point about being wrong. Many are so quick to write a player off, then subconsciously, no matter how well they are doing, they want them to fail because they don't want to be wrong.

Every piece of media coming out about Gibson relates to how hard he's working, how impressive he's been, how he's working himself to exhaustion, how the quarterback has extreme confidence in him ...

Yet, he's a bubble guy who the coaches are giving reps to see if they want to cut him? Laughable ....

And for those that don't know.

That Brandon Lloyd guy that McDaniels turned into a superstar - is 6-0, 194 lbs, and runs a 4.62 40 yard dash.

As valid as your point is, 40 yard dash times are irrelevant. Donnie Avery's 40 yard dash is 4.27, and DeSean Jackson's is 4.35. You will never see two guys in the nfl get down with their hand in the dirt right next to each other and then start running together. Its all about game speed, and guys like Brandon Lloyd and Desean Jackson kill that area, while guys like Avery seem to have done nothing.

Avery is technically faster than Jackson, though he doesn't seem to use it. Well my point is, just because Brandon Lloyd runs a 4.62 and Gibson runs probably a 4.4-4.6 doesn't mean anything. At this point Gibson has not shown a drop of game speed, and only catches 10 yard routes. I have yet to see Gibson go deep and beat someone.

[Ramendola16]

If Gibson proves he deserves a spot on the team, then by all means he should have it. Last year, he struck me as a receiver that only succeeded because of lack of competition. I'm interested to see what he can do with a full corps of WR's. Remember, he wasn't in the starting lineup until all the injuries occurred.

[sosa39rams]

If Gibson proves he deserves a spot on the team, then by all means he should have it. Last year, he struck me as a receiver that only succeeded because of lack of competition. I'm interested to see what he can do with a full corps of WR's. Remember, he wasn't in the starting lineup until all the injuries occurred.

I agree. At the end of the day we can talk, but if Gibson proves he should stay, then he will.

[Nick]

The amazing part to me is I see so many people saying that they don't think Gibson will make the team

You yourself acknowledged that was a possibility a couple of days ago when you said Gibson could be anywhere from the top guy here to not on the roster, depending on his next couple of weeks.

If he continues to have an outstanding camp and carries it over into the preseason, then I'm sure he'll have earned a spot on this roster, possibly as a starter.

But if he can't keep it up, if it doesn't translate on the field, or if the coaching staff simply prefers the system fit and/or long-term viability of other receivers, then it's not impossible that he could be cut from this team despite admirable production in the past.

Either way, I'm glad to see that he's working his tail off at the moment, and I hope he keeps it up. I don't care who it is, but I want to see guys in this receiving corps step up to help make this offense more efficient and dangerous for opposing defenses.

[r8rh8rmike]

I completely agree with those putting forth the premise that if Gibson earns a spot, he deserves it and should be on the roster. That's the bottom line. There may be some who don't think he'll be able to do it, but he has a chance to prove them wrong. Again, I've always been a big Gibson fan and didn't think he got the credit he deserved for fighting through early adversity and finishing the season strong, so I'll be rooting for him.