Kyren Williams suffered a sprained ankle in the win over the Arizona Cardinals in Week 6, and he’s expected to miss at least one game for the Los Angeles Rams. Even though Williams will be inactive, Sean McVay isn’t concerned in the slightest about the second-year back remaining motivated during his absence.
“Well, I think you know from even talking to Kyren, that’s not something that I worry about at all because of the human being,” McVay said. “He’s a special guy. He’s wired the right way physically and mentally. He’s overcome setbacks, which was demonstrated last year. He’s a guy that I don’t think you necessarily have to worry about that, but you want to keep him engaged as much as possible. One of the best traits and compliments I can give Kyren Williams is his intrinsic motivation, his internal drive to try to be great and maximize his potential and I think things like this will only motivate him that much more to come back stronger. I trust that he’ll use this setback as a setup for a comeback.”
Williams produced a career-best 158 rushing yards and a touchdown on 20 attempts against the Cardinals on Sunday. But in the second half of the contest, he sustained an ankle injury and he has been diagnosed with a sprained ankle.
It remains to be seen if Williams’ ankle ailment is a high-ankle sprain as they tend to take longer than other sprains to heal. For the time being, all signs point toward Williams missing the Week 7 matchup versus the Pittsburgh Steelers.
At the running back position, we’ve seen players get replaced frequently and teams often ride with the hot hand. So even with Williams coming off the best rushing performance of his career, some could be concerned if he’ll retain his role once he returns.
While rookie Zach Evans appears to be in line to be the starting running back for the Rams in Week 7, McVay believes Williams will be back even stronger once he’s healthy again.