Jordan
Whittington.
Jordan
Whittington.
Texas· 6'1"· 205 lb
"Five years, three surgeries and one of the great Texas high school performances ever, and what the Rams actually drafted was the toughest blocker and most reliable hands in the sixth round."Pre-draft read
Whittington is a 6-1, 205-pound possession receiver who lived in the big slot at Texas and did his best work on the second level: option routes, dig-overs, sit-downs against zone and back-shoulder throws. The hands are the trait — he plays through contact, adjusts late, and rarely needs a clean window.
The second trait is the one that gets him on a roster: he blocks like a tight end and treats it as a job rather than a chore, which is what a run-first offense buys on day three. He is a converted running back with real short-area burst and 4.47 speed, but he is a builder of yards rather than a taker of tops. The signature is dependability — the guy the quarterback finds on third-and-6 and the guy sealing the edge on the very next snap.
Run-heavy, play-action offenses that ask receivers to block — the Shanahan/McVay tree, where a big slot who seals the edge earns snaps he cannot win on separation alone.
Year 1: WR4, core special teamer and kick returner. Ceiling: a WR3 who starts in 12 personnel and never leaves the field on run downs.
A vertical, four-wide spread that treats receivers as pure route runners and outsources blocking to tight ends — his best trait is worth nothing there and he cannot win with speed.
The return job is the roster spot; the blocking is what protects it.
Jordan Whittington | Wide Receiver | Texas | 2023 Highlights | 2024 NFL Draft
Senior-season reel from the Big 12 title team: option routes, contested catches over the middle and the run blocking that carried his draft case.
Jordan Whittington Every Target 2022
Every target from his most productive college season, 50 catches for 652 yards, showing the underneath volume and hands through contact.
Jordan Whittington Highlights | 2025 - 2026 NFL Season - Rams
Second-year work in Los Angeles: situational targets, kick returns and the blocking snaps that keep him on the field in run personnel.
A five-year Longhorn who arrived in Austin as the No. 1 all-purpose back in the country and left as a wide receiver, which tells you most of the story. Whittington could line up anywhere, blocked like a starter, and never once looked out of place against the best defenses on the schedule.
The problem was staying on the field. He caught two passes in the 2019 opener before a torn adductor ended his true freshman year, needed meniscus surgery in 2020, and lost the back half of 2021 to a clavicle injury. When healthy he produced: 50 catches for 652 yards in 2022, then 42 for 505 as a senior on a Big 12 champion that reached the College Football Playoff, sharing a room with Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell and Ja'Tavion Sanders. He finished with 141 receptions for 1,757 yards over 41 games and was the connective tissue of that offense rather than its explosive element.
The board treated him as a good football player with a bad medical file and no vertical separation, and the testing did not change any minds: 4.47 at the combine is fine, not a solution. He went 213th, a spot where the Rams were buying floor, special teams and blocking, not upside.
- 01
Hands through contact
Catches away from his frame and hangs on with a defender draped on him, which is why Texas trusted him on third down for two straight years.
- 02
Blocking
Attacks defensive backs and stalks safeties in the run game with tight-end effort, the single most transferable trait he brought out of Austin.
- 03
Positional flexibility
Recruited as an all-purpose back and used in the slot, on the boundary and in the return game, giving a staff several ways to keep him active.
- 04
Football character
Came back for a fifth year after three injury-shortened seasons and started 12 games for a Big 12 champion instead of taking the easy exit.
- 05
Short-area burst
The running back background shows on option routes and after the catch, where he breaks the first tackle more often than a possession label suggests.
- 01
Durability file
Torn adductor in 2019, meniscus surgery in 2020, clavicle injury in 2021; he played more than 13 games in a season exactly once.
- 02
No vertical gear
A 4.47 forty and a career 12.5 yards per catch, with almost no evidence he can win the top of a route against NFL corners.
- 03
Modest production
141 catches across five years at a program that was throwing to first-round talent around him, which reads more complementary than featured.
- 04
Release package
Physical enough to fight through press but short on the footwork variety to beat it cleanly, which caps his snaps outside the numbers.
— — — positional median (p50)
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- 18repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Texas | 1 | 2 | 17 | 0 |
| 2020 | Texas | 5 | 21 | 206 | 0 |
| 2021 | Texas | 8 | 26 | 377 | 3 |
| 2022 | Texas | 13 | 50 | 652 | 1 |
| 2023 | Texas | 14 | 42 | 505 | 1 |
| Career | — | 41 | 141 | 1757 | 5 |
Verified against cfbstats.com Texas player pages for 2020-2023 (exact match on games, receptions, yards, average and touchdowns) and sports-reference.com for the one-game 2019 season that ended in a redshirt after a torn adductor. The five seasons sum exactly to the career line: 41 games, 141 receptions, 1,757 yards, 5 touchdowns, 7 carries for 76 yards. Return work was incidental in college and is deliberately left out rather than zero-filled: cfbstats credits one 18-yard kickoff return in 2022, and one punt return for 3 yards plus two kickoff returns for 18 yards in 2023.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Almost the exact same job in the same building: a big receiver who earns his snaps blocking and on teams while catching a handful of situational passes.
The ceiling if the underneath volume ever arrives: a slot with elite hands and separation on option routes who turns into a 100-target chain-mover.
The floor: a camp-body depth receiver who bounces between the practice squad and the back of the roster without a defined role.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The Rams found a role for him immediately. As a rookie in 2024 he played 15 games with three starts, caught 22 passes for 293 yards, and returned 16 kickoffs for 453 yards under the new kickoff rules — enough to make the PFWA All-Rookie Team as a returner and to become one of the more visible blockers on a young offense. In 2025 he played all 17 games with six starts, was the fourth option behind Puka Nacua and Davante Adams and finished with 18 catches for 171 yards plus 17 kick returns for 434 yards, then handled seven returns for 155 yards across two playoff games. Through two seasons he has 40 receptions for 464 yards, 33 kickoff returns for 887 yards and no receiving touchdowns; he enters 2026 on the active roster in the third year of his rookie deal.
In hindsight the medical discount was the correct call and the football evaluation was slightly too harsh. He has not missed meaningful time since he got to Los Angeles, which is the part everyone got wrong, and he has been exactly what the tape promised: a dependable fourth receiver, a legitimate kick returner and a blocker good enough to stay on the field in run situations. He was never going to be the steal of the draft. He was always going to be the pick you forget you made and then cannot cut.
Data note: Verified against cfbstats.com Texas player pages for 2020-2023 (exact match on games, receptions, yards, average and touchdowns) and sports-reference.com for the one-game 2019 season that ended in a redshirt after a torn adductor. The five seasons sum exactly to the career line: 41 games, 141 receptions, 1,757 yards, 5 touchdowns, 7 carries for 76 yards. Return work was incidental in college and is deliberately left out rather than zero-filled: cfbstats credits one 18-yard kickoff return in 2022, and one punt return for 3 yards plus two kickoff returns for 18 yards in 2023.