Terrance Ferguson Camp Update — August 23: The First-Team Middle Is Becoming His

Terrance Ferguson kept beating the Saints over the middle on Thursday, with Matthew Stafford throwing him the ball. In the joint practice where the Rams' first-team offense took 45 competitive snaps, per Mykell Mathieu at The Sporting Tribune, Ferguson's receptions were one of the day's recurring notes, per Stu Jackson and Zach Edwards at the team website, and Sean McVay went out of his way afterward: "He's so smart. He plays every single skill position except for halfback for us," per Blaine Grisak at Sports Illustrated. Last week the Ferguson case was national buzz; this week it was production with the starters, in front of the quarterback whose trust decides the job.

Saturday's game gave the question a rest. The 34 to nothing win over the Saints was a backup night built around Stetson Bennett's first half, per Grisak, and none of the attributable recaps charted the tight end usage, so the game-script read on the room — Ferguson against Tyler Higbee, Colby Parkinson and rookie Max Klare, who led the team in targets a week ago — did not materialize.

The talent case keeps compounding — February's "total stud" from McVay, Albert Breer's after-the-catch praise in July, now a joint-practice session as Stafford's middle-of-the-field answer. Back in June we said Ferguson's promotion had to be won rather than inherited, in one of football's deepest tight end rooms; the winning is visibly underway, and the target data that would prove it out still hasn't been generated.

Thursday's preseason finale against the Chargers is the last exhibition before rosters cut to 53 on Sunday, August thirtieth. Watch the tight end snap and target split if the room plays, and watch what cutdown does to a five-man group that almost certainly cannot all stay. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._