The Rams entered Thursday night’s draft hoping to add an offensive weapon for quarterback 
“He’s really athletic,” Rams General Manager Billy Devaney said. “ He’s got great hands. Extremely smart. He can run. He’s got good speed. There are a lot of places we can use the guy.”
Officially, he’s listed as a tight end, but Kendricks is seen as a bit of a jack-of-all trades by Devaney and Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo.
As a senior for the Badgers, he caught 27 passes for 417 yards and three touchdowns, and his average of 15.4 yards a catch last season shows his ability to make plays down the field. He ran an impressive 4.49-second 40-yard dash in his on-campus workout.
Kendrick is also described as an accomplished blocker. During his time in Madison, he helped Wisconsin finish second in the Big 10 and 13th nationally in rushing last season.
“Wisconsin, they play some pretty tough-nosed football, so that was attractive and we think this guy’s got some skills too,” Spagnuolo said. “The attractive thing about him is he can play a lot of different spots. Put a couple tight ends in the game that can do a lot of different things, it gives the defense headaches.”
When Kendrick received the call from the Rams, he said Bradford was the first thing he thought of, but he said he’s as anxious to help open holes for
“I take a lot of pride in being able to do things such as blocking and doing some iso-blocks and splitting, lining up in the slot in single side, and lining up as a true tight end,” Kendricks said. “I definitely do take a lot of pride in that.”
Last season, Kendrick was a finalist for the John Mackey Award last season, an honor given to college football’s top tight end. He joins a group that includes
“He gives you the flexibility of doing some different things,” Spagnuolo said. “We’ve got some other tight ends in this program and we’ll let the thing filter itself out. We consider it an area of a good football player who can help us.”
Kendrick was a player the Rams had their eye on leading up to the draft, and like he did yesterday when the Rams landed
“It was another case it was going to be close,” Devaney said. “He went about the range we thought he would. We started talking about making some calls and possibly moving up, but it got to a point where he was within range and we said, ‘Let’s just wait and hopefully he’s there when we pick.’ We feel fortunate.”
