LOS ANGELES -- One freakin' yard.
For Lance Kendricks, the Los Angeles Rams' sixth-year tight end, it meant $250,000.
Kendricks finished the 2016 season with 50 catches for 499 yards. One more receiving yard would've given him 500 -- enough to trigger a $250,000 incentive, ESPN's Field Yates pointed out. It's a circumstance that probably left Kendricks lamenting the fact that he hauled in just 58.1 percent of his targets, last among the 15 tight ends who were targeted at least 80 times this season.
There were some key missed opportunities along the way.
In Sunday's season finale, a 44-6 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Kendricks had a 13-yard catch that was called back on a holding penalty by guard Jamon Brown. In Week 15, a Thursday night game against the Seattle Seahawks, Kendricks dropped an easy catch on the game's first play from scrimmage. In Week 13 against the New England Patriots, he was wide open coming across the field but dropped a pass that led to an interception. And in Week 9, a close loss to the Carolina Panthers, Kendricks dropped an easy touchdown pass that could've swung the outcome, souring an otherwise productive game (seven catches for 90 yards) for the 28-year-old out of Wisconsin.
The sun might have played a factor in the Panthers drop.
