Rams TE Tyler Higbee looking for encore performance in 2020
After an impressive finish to 2019, Los Angeles Rams tight end Tyler Higbee looks to pick up where he left off last season.
Higbee inked a four-year, $29 million deal that included $15 million in guaranteed money in September last year.
He started last season slowly with just 21 catches through nine games. However, Higbee finished the season strong, totaling 48 receptions for 590 receiving yards and two touchdowns over the last six games.
That hot stretch included four straight, 100-yard receiving performances. Higbee finished the year with a career-high 69 receptions for 734 receiving yards and three scores.
Higbee, 27, wants to prove the second half of 2019 was no fluke and show that he’s a complete tight end, similar to guys like George Kittle and Travis Kelce who recently signed top-of-the-market contracts for tight ends.
“I’m just trying to do my job,” Higbee said. “I don’t know if anything clicked (last year), but I think some opportunities were presented to me more, and I just tried to take advantage of them. I had a coach tell me one time to prove to be reliable, and that’s what I’m trying to do.
“When it’s my turn to make a play and they’re trying to get me the rock, I try to do that. As a tight end, I take pride in being able to do everything a tight end can do – pass block, run block and the receiving game. So I’m working on all three phases every offseason.”
The Rams could use Higbee and fellow tight end Gerald Everett even more together on the field in 2020. According to Football Outsiders, from Week 10 on the Rams more than doubled their use of 12 (1 RB, 2TEs, 2 WRs) or 13 (1 RB, 3TEs, 1WR) personnel formations to 31.6 percent of plays -- up from 14.3 percent in the first eight games
The Rams have run 11 personnel (1 RB, 1TE, 3 WRs) the most of any team over the last three seasons during the Sean McVay era. Higbee said with both he and Everett on the field, defenses have to account for both the run and the pass.
Everett, 26, limped through the second half of last season with a knee issue, but finished with 37 receptions for 408 receiving yards and three scores.
“We (Everett and I) just get that trench work in, and do what we’ve got to do to be complete tight ends to where you have to keep defenses guessing,” Higbee said. “Just cause we're in the game doesn’t mean we're going to run the ball, or pass the ball. So we kind of kind of keep them on edge, and having those different types of personnel in the game can create match-ups that we can take advantage of.”
