Sean McVay mentioned the 2019 49ers when discussing how the Rams will deploy their running backs.
The Rams are making the transition from having a true workhorse back to likely utilizing more of a committee approach in the backfield this year. Todd Gurley was the king of carries in Los Angeles for the last few years, dominating the distribution of touches at running back with his backups getting minimal opportunities.
Gurley’s gone after being cut in March, leaving Cam Akers, Darrell Henderson and Malcolm Brown to take the reins. The Rams haven’t specifically said how they’ll handle the share of touches and snaps in the backfield, with all three players figuring to contribute.
The Rams don’t have to look outside the state of California to find a blueprint for managing the running back position after seeing what the 49ers did last season. They had three players who carried it between 123 and 137 times, all rushing for at least 544 yards and averaging no fewer than 4.0 yards per carry.
Raheem Mostert emerged as the team’s most productive and efficient back with 772 yards rushing, while Matt Breida gained 623 yards himself on only 123 carries. Tevin Coleman earned the most starts (11) but rushed for the fewest yards (544).
The 49ers consistently kept teams on their toes with these three backs, utilizing all of them in the offense. Sean McVay took notice of the job Kyle Shanahan did last season and mentioned the 49ers’ approach when asked by Dan Hellie how the Rams will manage their committee.
“I think it’ll just naturally work itself out. I think if you look at that success San Fran had last year with that running back-by-committee approach,” McVay said on The Helliepod. “What I thought Kyle (Shanahan) and their players did a great job of is, ‘Hey, we’re going to have an open-mind approach, we’re going to be committed to trying to have some balance and then we’ll go with the hot hand or whoever really expresses himself as deserving of the carries.”
McVay isn’t just looking at Akers, Henderson and Brown as contributors, either. He also mentioned John Kelly, who was a sixth-round pick in 2018 but has only carried it 30 times in two seasons.
Los Angeles doesn’t have any proven starters on its roster, but the depth at that position is excellent, which gives McVay options on a weekly basis.
“We feel good. We’ve got three guys really on our roster that have played football when you look at Darrell Henderson, John Kelly is another guy, Malcolm Brown has consistently produced in that No. 2 role behind Todd,” he continued. “And then Cam Akers is a guy that we’re excited about. So we’ve got four backs that we feel like are all NFL-legitimate starting-caliber backs and not feeling like you’ve got to force carries or touches to any of them. Just open mind and see how these guys do.”
Akers is probably the most talented of the bunch, having been a second-round pick and given the skill set that he possesses. But Henderson is explosive and can make big plays in the blink of an eye thanks to his speed; he averaged 8.2 yards per carry in college. Brown is a quality blocker and can do it all at running back, even if he doesn’t have the high ceiling that Akers and Brown do.
If the Rams wind up following the 49ers’ blue print on offense, it’ll benefit Jared Goff, who threw more passes than any other quarterback in the NFL last season. McVay clearly wants to be more balanced and utilize the running game more, and given the talent he has to work with at tailback, there’s almost no reason he shouldn’t be able to take some pressure off of Goff.
The 49ers were second in rushing attempts, rushing yards and first in rushing touchdowns last season, attempting the fourth-fewest passes of any team. By comparison, the Rams were 18th in rush attempts and 26th in yards, but they attempted more passes than all but two teams. Expect that split to be much closer in 2020.
