Kyren Williams was one of the Rams’ most important players last season, leading the NFL in rushing yards per game while also scoring 15 total touchdowns. Because of how valuable he was, though, Sean McVay wanted to play him as much as possible – which came at the expense of his availability.
Williams missed four games due to an ankle injury and he also suffered a broken hand in the wild-card game against the Lions, raising some questions about his durability after suffering multiple injuries as a rookie in 2022.
Running backs rarely play every game in a season, which makes having depth at the position essential. That’s why the Rams drafted Blake Corum in the third round to back up Williams and ease his workload a bit.
General manager Les Snead said recently that the Rams felt they needed as many good running backs as possible so they “don’t just totally run down Kyren.”
“A lot of people have said he’s similar,” Snead said of Corum. “They have a very similar play style. They both really, really care about the football. That’s very important on that side of the ball. We’re a relatively advanced veteran offense so you definitely are going to need to bring a care factor to be able to get up to speed and be able to function and fit right in and keep the thing humming. It’s a tough league, it’s a 17-game season plus playoffs. Might go to 18 games one day, so we always felt like we needed to have as many quality runners as possible so we don’t just totally run down Kyren and we have one or two, or even three guys that can contribute, keep everyone fresh and let’s go and try to impose our will.”
After solidifying the interior of their offensive line and drafting Corum, the Rams made it clear that they want to be a ground-and-pound offense in 2024. With Williams and Corum, they can take some of the pressure off of Matthew Stafford, allowing him to hand the ball off and let his running backs work.
The offense was at its best last season when Williams was rolling, and with Corum being a similar player behind him, the Rams don’t need to change anything up when they take Williams off the field for the rookie.