Tutu Atwell

Five seasons in LA, all Rams — from goose-egg rookie year to a 580-yard 2024 high.

Atwell's rookie year was a zero — 6 games, no targets, no catches. The Rams had drafted him in Round 2 (2021) and he sat the entire season behind Kupp/Woods/Beckham.

The useful arc started in 2022 (298 yards) and built to a career-high 580 yards in 2024. But 2024 had zero receiving TDs on 43 catches — the second time in his career he's been the slot/deep weapon who doesn't finish.

2025 (8 games, 192 yards) is a part-time role; Puka Nacua and the Kupp departure reshaped the WR room around him.

Why it matters. Atwell's full career has been in Los Angeles, and the year-over-year line shows a slow build from a zero-rep rookie behind a Super Bowl WR room to a 580-yard outside Z by Year 4. Context for any 2025 usage question — he is a developed role player, not an unproven prospect.

13.6 aDOT, 14.9 YPR — a downfield Z whose role doesn't match his combine reputation.

Atwell ran a 4.39 at his pro day and was drafted as a speed/screen weapon. His actual NFL usage is 13.6 aDOT with 14.9 YPR — those are downfield numbers, not gadget numbers.

The Rams haven't used him as a sweep/screen specialist. They line him up outside, run him on comebacks, posts, and deep digs, and his YPR reflects that he's catching the ball 12-15 yards downfield rather than 3 yards behind the LOS.

Why it matters. Speed-receiver draft profiles often get pigeonholed as gadget/screen weapons, but Atwell's per-target depth (13.6 air yards on every throw) and per-catch yardage (14.9) place him with downfield outside receivers, not slot/jet-sweep types. That changes which usage trends to expect when reading his box scores.

119 yards in his first 2023 game — Week 1 vs Seattle was his career launching pad.

Atwell's only career 100-yard game is the Week 1 2023 opener at Seattle — 6 catches for 119 yards on 8 targets. That was the breakout that earned him a starting role for the rest of 2023.

2025 Week 4 vs Indianapolis (1 catch, 88 yards, 1 TD) was an 88-yard touchdown — the single-target single-catch big play. That's the volatility of his role.

Why it matters. Atwell has one career 100-yard game across five seasons, and his other big games tend to come from a single explosive catch rather than sustained volume. Useful prior when projecting his weekly ceiling — the variance is boom-or-bust.

43 catches in 2024, 0 receiving TDs — only WR in the league with that line.

In 2024, Atwell caught 43 passes for 580 yards but finished with 0 receiving TDs. That combination — 40+ catches and 0 TDs — is rare; most WRs at that volume score 2-4 times.

The explanation: Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua absorbed nearly every red-zone target in the LA WR room. Atwell's role was the "in-between zones" outside Z, not the end-zone option.

He scored in 2022 (1 TD), 2023 (4 TDs), 2025 (1 TD) — only 2024 was the donut.

Why it matters. Catching 43 passes without a single touchdown in a full season is the kind of distribution shape that only appears when a receiver is structurally excluded from red-zone work. It is one of the cleanest signals that Atwell is not the Rams' goal-line option, even in volume seasons.

14.9 yards per catch since 2022 — 14th of 91 WRs with 100+ receptions, a top-15% downfield rate.

Among the 91 WRs with at least 100 receptions across 2022-2025, Atwell's 14.87 YPR ranks 14th — top 15%. The names above him are mostly recognized vertical threats (deep-ball specialists, contested-catch outside Zs).

That is a margin-bearing peer comparison: he is not in the slot-WR YPR band (typically 9-11). His 6 career TDs across the same window, though, are well below the group's median, reinforcing the pattern from his 2024 anomaly card — he gets the downfield routes, just not the scoring ones.

Why it matters. Per-catch yardage is the cleanest single number for separating downfield receivers from underneath ones. A 14th-of-91 finish places Atwell with vertical Zs rather than slot/screen WRs, which is the opposite of the role most fans expect from his pro-day profile.