I'm not sure there's any way around it: We, as St. Louis Rams fans, are going to get excited about Lance Kendricks again. Ryan Van Bibber's recent post about him on TST confirmed it for me. With Brian Quick and Chris Givens too new and not quite highly touted enough for expectations to be thrown on them immediately it's going to be down to Lance Kendricks to absorb all our he's-really-going-to-do-it-this-year preseason hype.
↵Whether he actually does it--well, the odds seem stacked against him; Brian Schottenheimer will be lower-risk and likelier to utilize the tight ends than Josh McDaniels was, but Kendricks was Josh McDaniels's guy--specifically, Josh McDaniels and the last administration's big overdraft. Jeff Fisher and Schottenheimer just inherited him, so it's unclear how much extra rope he has.
↵For all that, the Football Outsiders prediction RVB digs up for Kendricks's sophomore season is pretty exciting--four touchdowns and a great catch rate. I'd certainly take that, and if their system spots something positive in his invisible 2011 numbers... well, maybe there's something all of us missed.