Give Him an Inch : Kinchen Shows What He Can Do After Reception

There are times to go out of bounds quietly, without sound or fury and with your body intact.

Tuesday morning, though, was not that time for Todd Kinchen, a Ram rookie wide receiver who has learned a thing or two about making the right impression.

“You just have to stay in bounds sometimes, no matter what,” Kinchen said after Tuesday’s scrimmage against the San Diego Chargers.

No matter what for Kinchen meant absorbing a few more full-speed, shoulder-to-the-chest shots from Charger defenders on the UC Irvine practice field.

But the payoff for the third-round draft pick from Louisiana State was a catch and run that went for 19 yards and had Coach Chuck Knox smiling afterward.

Kinchen, at 5 feet 11 and 187 pounds, is not exactly a track star in football gear. But he took the 10-yard pass and, instead of heading straight to safety, wheeled upfield and stayed upright long enough to almost double the yardage while absorbing the hits.

So Kinchen, who came to the Rams with high ratings but was unsteady holding onto passes in the May mini-camp and the first day of this just-completed advance camp, turned a little swing pass into the Rams’ offensive highlight.

“He didn’t jump out of bounds over there,” Knox said. “Did you notice that?”

Then, to cap the scrimmage, Kinchen caught another, less dazzling 19-yarder and easily led the young Ram receivers with 38 yards worth.

The trick for Kinchen, now that he has let the coaches know he can play, is to keep up the momentum with the veterans in camp. “Todd Kinchen’s a good football player,” Knox said. “The athletic ability’s there. You saw him on the sidelines--(he) makes some guys miss. That’s what he did in college.”

The Rams are set with Henry Ellard and Flipper Anderson as the starting receivers, but appear to have swung the doors open wide for the main backup spots.

So while Kinchen interns as a punt returner--he ran two back for touchdowns at LSU last season--he knows he has a chance to get some quality time in passing situations.

“Todd is really what we thought he was--he’s a guy with great hands, great quickness, has got great strength, a tough guy, can catch the ball inside,” receiver coach Milt Jackson said. “And he’s a little faster than people think, so he’ll have an opportunity to get up top and make some big plays.

“When we went out looking for personnel, we were looking for someone who could be a real good, tough inside receiver, and obviously we chose Todd, so we thought he could fit that bill.”

One thing the Rams have lacked recently is a game-breaking third receiver, somebody who can be put in on pass downs, block hard when necessary, and catch a short pass and break loose through the secondary for drive-making plays.

At LSU, that was exactly what Kinchen did, catching 112 passes for 10 touchdowns in a three-year career. But with Kinchen, who runs routes in an odd style--leaning forward, legs churning fast--it’s easier to define him by what he is not.

He’s not tall enough to be a striding Jerry Rice-type. With a 40-yard time in the 4.55-second range, he’s not fast enough to be a sprinter like Willie Gault. And he’s not a possession route runner like Art Monk.

Kinchen is the type who shows something extra after the ball is in his hands. “You don’t want to make a couple of moves and run out of bounds,” he said. “It’s kind of anticlimactic to the fans, and to the players. If I’d kind of stepped out of bounds, it wasn’t really an exciting play, so who cares? (At LSU) what I did the best was run with the ball after I caught it. I think that’s part

of the reason the Rams drafted me.”

But to run well after the catch, you have to catch the ball, which suddenly became a problem.

“I’ve always caught the ball well, so I didn’t need to work on it particularly,” said Kinchen, who catches most passes with his hands, which allows him to turn upfield faster than if he caught them with his whole body. “So the first day of camp I was dropping some balls.

“I’m just getting a feel for the level right now. It’s not going to be a problem for the rest of the year.”

Jackson says he never had a doubt that Kinchen’s early troubles were anything but temporary.

“That’s typical when a guy has got a learning process they’re going through,” Jackson said. “They’re thinking instead of reacting, you know?

“He’s going to be a good player, and he’s going to help this team win some games.”