Los Angeles Rams: 3 reasons John Kelly deserves backup role over Malcolm Brown

1. Kelly’s recent performance against Houston

Once it was announced earlier in the week that Gurley would be resting for a third game in a row, Rams fans knew right away that Kelly would most likely be seeing a majority of the carries once again, which was exactly the case. After Brown failed to put up decent numbers after limited action (six carries for 11 yards), it was Kelly that ended up leading Los Angeles in rushing for a third week in a row to make another strong case for officially earning the backup role to Gurley.

As if rushing for 64 yards on 15 carries wasn’t already impressive enough, Kelly topped his performance from a week ago against the Oakland Raiders by earning two trips into the end zone as well, holding on to the football during both occasions. What was even more impressive was seeing Kelly break loose for a 15-yard touchdown run in the third quarter on a 3rd and goal for the Rams in a play that seemed to be drawn up just to put the team in better field goal range.

With three impressive performances in a row on offense, no one even comes close to Kelly at this point in the preseason when it comes to making a case for the job to be the No. 2 man behind Gurley, and the Rams would be foolish not to reward him with the opportunity. Luckily, McVay is a smart enough coach to realize a situation like this one, meaning it seems like only a matter of time before the gig is officially awarded to Kelly.