Last season, one part of the Rams that was missing early on was a legitimate return threat. The team experimented with different players, placing Jake Funk at kick returns and Tutu Atwell at punt returns, and even tried Tutu’s hand at kick returning as well.
While both players were serviceable, they lacked that explosiveness that is needed in the return game, an aspect of special teams that can have a massive impact on the outcome of any given football game. Then, following some injuries to the roster, the Rams signed free agent Brandon Powell, a man with only 2 seasons of regular season experience at the time.