The Los Angeles Rams tight end room will once again be led by Tyler Higbee, who is healthy following the 2022 season where he spent the year working through a knee injury.
Higbee has always been a reliable target in the short and intermediate areas of the field, though the Rams could use another option behind him in case he is forced to miss any time. Hunter Long and Brycen Hopkins are next in line, though the former has been dealing with a groin injury throughout training camp.
In order to bolster the tight end room, the Rams took Davis Allen in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Allen has the size and physical tools to one day be a contributor, though he suffered a minor setback when he injured his hamstring earlier in the summer.
However, Allen was active for Los Angeles’ preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders and made a considerable impression offensively. The rookie discussed his performance and what it meant to him via Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:
“It felt great,” Allen told theRams.com. “I was so happy. I was telling my wife and my parents today just like, thank God, you know? I don’t feel like I’m just in the back, I feel like I can contribute in some way. It felt good. I had a lot of frustration this past 3-4 weeks, and as a rookie, you want to prove yourself. And not being able to do that has been frustrating and scary, just because, you know the situation. It felt good just to let my frustration go a little bit, cut it loose and try to have as much fun as I could.”
As a big target, Allen was able to haul in several tough passes from Stetson Bennett in order to keep drives alive. On the Rams’ lone touchdown drive, Allen came up with multiple catches in order to set up Bennett’s scoring scramble.
Allen isn’t expected to play right away because of how raw a prospect he is, but his performance against the Raiders is an encouraging development for the team as they’ll need their young players to step up sooner rather than later.
Brycen Hopkins a bright spot for Rams in training camp
Hopkins has been in Los Angeles since 2020, but has yet to really crack the rotation. However, he has been having a strong training camp and Sean McVay called him a bright spot so far.
