Cam Sims: Regular Season Contributor or Training Camp Hero?

August 21, 2018

by Steve Thomas

Cam Sims is the latest in a long string of players to capture the preseason hearts and imaginations of Redskins fans everywhere, thanks to his unique size and highly visible plays in both training camp and Washington’s first two practice games.  We’ve seen many other preseason hall of famers come and go over the years with nary a whimper – the question regarding Sims is whether he’s going to join that undistinguished and barely memorable list, or whether he has a real chance to make the active roster and provide a positive contribution to the team.  Let’s dive into his background and his film and see what we what can learn.

Background

Sims, who stands 6’5” and weighs 214 pounds, is a native of Monroe, Louisiana.  He was a 4 star prospect coming out of high school and was heavily recruited by various division I schools across the country.  Sims spent 4 seasons at the University of Alabama, posting a total of 41 receptions, 467 yards, 11.4 yards per reception, and 2 touchdowns in 23 games.  His season by season statistical breakdown is as follows:

2014: 4 gms, 7 rec, 62 yards, 1 TD

2015: 2 gms, 6 rec, 46 yards

2016: 6 gms, 14 rec, 152 yards

2017: 11 gms, 14 rec, 207 yards, 1 TD

What should jump out at you in these numbers is that Sims didn’t produce much.  He didn’t consistently get on the field until his senior year, and even then, the bulk of the targets went to fellow receiver Calvin Ridley, who was the first round pick of the Atlanta Falcons this year.  These sorts of numbers don’t usually allow players to find their way onto NFL rosters, and we’ll discuss how he made it to DC below.

Sims is not known as an uber-athletic prospect by NFL wide receiver standards.  He was not invited to the NFL Combine, but participated in the Alabama pro day in March, running the 40 yard dash in 4.59 seconds, jumping 34 inches in the vertical jump and 10’3” in the standing broad jump.  He ran the 20 yard short shuttle in 4.49 seconds.  Considering his size, these aren’t bad numbers, but they don’t put him in the realm of the elite.  For comparison’s sake, rookie safety Troy Apke ran the 20 yard short shuttle in 4.24 seconds, which was tied for 5th.  All the same, though, a 6’5” receiver who can at least run a sub-4.6 second forty time is fast enough to play a role on an NFL team.

What does his film show?

My standard disclaimers apply here: I do not intend this to be an exhaustive film study, and I’m not a professional scout.  I’m just a guy with a laptop computer, a TV, and a dream, so feel free to take my observations for what you will.  I don’t have access to Alabama’s All-22 film, so for this piece, I watched regular television broadcasts of the Alabama – Fresno St. game from September 9, 2017, the Alabama – Tennessee game from October 21, 2017, and the Alabama – LSU game from November 4, 2017, as well as Sims’ YouTube highlights.

Sims is one of the more interesting prospects I’ve watched this year.  The first thing to understand about Sims’ time with Alabama is that, at least as a senior in 2017 when he played regularly, he primarily lined up in the slot.  He was not an outside receiver – the Crimson Tide have – wait for it – lots of highly rated receiver prospects, and it appears as though the only way Sims could get on the field was as the slot receiver.  This is not the norm for a guy who is 6’5” and not a speed demon.  The second point is that Sims just flat-out didn’t play much and didn’t get many targets thrown his way.  Some of the reasons for that are that Alabama’s offense is a rushing-based attack, not a spread passing system, and the starting quarterback, Jalen Hurts, is not an NFL-quality passer.  Hurts is a runner first and foremost who doesn’t have an NFL arm, isn’t very accurate, doesn’t see the field well, holds the ball way, way too long even in passing situations, and generally isn’t a benefit to his receivers.  Also, Ridley was Hurts’ favorite receiver and got more targets than most of the other receivers combined.  Finally, Alabama sometimes not only emptied the bench in the second half of blowout games, putting Sims out of the game entirely, but also then went to an almost exclusive running attack.  The point is that, as odd as it may sound for those of you who aren’t big college football fans, the fact that Sims played in the Alabama system limited Sims’ opportunities and production, which no doubt kept him off of the NFL’s radar.  Sims only got a handful of targets per game.  The rumor was that he first caught the Redskins’ attention with an outstanding performance at the Alabama pro day.

Sims frequently was the outlet valve in the passing game, simply moving a few yards outside after the snap and waiting for a flat pass.  He only got the occasional ball on midrange or deep patterns.  What he did well on film was use his size to fight for a ball against smaller corners. He showed good body control both pre- and post-catch, both with his hands and with his feet.  He also saw some success with shallow slants and crossing routes, and got one touchdown on a fade pattern in the back of the endzone.  Sims was also a good blocker by receiver standards, which, with Hurts running anywhere and everywhere without warning, was something of a necessity at Alabama.

The Redskins have used Sims in a completely different manner thusfar in preseason.  Sims has been an outside receiver, lining up exclusively in the “X” and “Z” positions.  Washington has been unafraid to let Sims run the full route tree, including deep outside routes, despite the fact that he did little of that at Alabama.  The Redskins are using him as a backup to Josh Docston on the outside, which just wasn’t his role in college.  The body control Sims showed at Alabama has shown itself in DC, too, as Sims made an acrobatic, highlight-reel catch in the endzone (called back due to penalty) and made another outstanding catch in traffic near the sideline this week against the Jets.   The one mistake he made was on the Colt McCoy interception against the Jets when Sims was wide open in the middle of the field, midrange, but let the ball get through his hands and careen off of his shoulder pads directly to a defensive back.  I suspect that a more experienced receiver wouldn’t have let that happen.

Sims does have negatives: first, I do not believe this is a situation where this player has more game speed than track speed.  On the rare occasion when he had opportunity to show it in college, he showed average at best top-end speed and burst.  Defenders were frequently playing very soft against Alabama receivers in general, somewhat negating this limitation, but Sims did not show that he had significant or even above-average acceleration.  He also sometimes gets lazy out of his breaks and in his patterns.  This is just a guess on my part, but I got the sense while watching the Alabama film that part of this laziness was because he knew the ball wasn’t going to come to him.  I haven’t seen evidence of laziness during the Redskins’ two preseason games.  In fact, in my view it’s been just the opposite: Sims has stood out with his effort against both the Patriots and the Jets.

In conclusion: Sims is a better receiver than the University of Alabama gave him credit for.  It’s hard to make too many conclusions based on his Alabama film when he was a key contributing part of the offense on such an infrequent basis.  Sims himself acknowledged this, saying in the locker room after the Jets game, “I’ve probably got the ball more here than all four of my years in college.”  He’s inexperienced, but it’s obvious that being with professional coaches who trust him to play a role has already been a tremendous benefit to him.  He’s not fast or overly athletic by NFL standards, and needs work on his route running.  He knows how to use his size and has that innate, uncoachable ability to be a playmaker.  In fact, his size and skills make him a classic NFL “X” receiver.

Where does he fit with the Redskins?

Sims has quite a bit of competition on the receiver group; in fact, there’s probably more competition at receiver than at any other position on the team.  The Redskins will most likely keep either 5 or 6 on the active roster, with one or possibly two more on the practice squad.  The roster locks are the three starters, Josh Doctson, Jamison Crowder, and Paul Richardson, Jr.  Maurice Harris undoubtedly is the next man up and is probably close to a lock as well.  With Robert Davis put on injured reserve this past week, this leaves Sims in competition with, in order, Brian Quick, seventh round pick Trey Quinn, Simmie Cobbs, Jr., Darvin Kidsy, Shay Fields, and newcomers Daniel Williams III and Allenzae Staggers.  Therefore, Sims is fighting with seven others for either one or two spots at most.  Of those seven, Quinn, Fields, Kidsy, and Staggers are all 6’0” or under.  Only Quick, who is an experienced vet, the rookie Cobbs, Williams, and Sims are larger receivers.  If I had to guess, I’d say that the Redskins will first keep the best player amongst that group of eight for the fifth spot, and if they keep a sixth, they will retain a player in the opposite “size group”, so to speak.  It’s almost inconceivable to me that the Redskins don’t keep a second true slot receiver to back up Crowder.  If Sims keeps making plays, he could find himself as the third string outside receiver behind Docston, Richardson, and Harris.  His long-term ceiling is as a starter if Docston doesn’t pan out (which is still an open question).  He’ll need to continue to make plays in the next two preseason games to have a chance, although he’s definitely stood out thusfar.

What do you think of Sims?  Let me know in the comment section below.