Rams should consider using Darrell Henderson as secret weapon against Browns

Through two games, Darrell Henderson has only seen one carry for the Los Angeles Rams.

Back in April, the Los Angeles Rams made a surprise move in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft by selecting former Memphis star Darrell Henderson, mainly because running back wasn’t a top need for the defending NFC champions.

Despite the concerns surrounding Todd Gurley with his knee along with previously matching Malcolm Brown‘s offer from the Detroit Lions, the Rams seemed to be in solid shape at running back, although the addition of Henderson seemed to make the unit stronger.

Not to mention, Los Angeles also had other running back options in John Kelly and Justin Davis to consider if needed, making the selection of Henderson in April even more surprising.

But without question, the biggest surprise of all has been the lack of carries for Henderson over the first two games, as the rookie running back’s only carry came in Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers, which went for zero yards.

Whatever the reason behind Sean McVay‘s decision to not use Henderson as much as originally expected since the most important factor is the Rams have won each of their first two games, it’s still sort of frustrating to see.

With Henderson’s different kind of running style to throw off opponents on top of the 1,909 rushing yards with 22 touchdowns recorded in 2018 during his final year with the Tigers, McVay seemed like he would have found a way to use his rookie running back.

While there’s still plenty of time for this to happen since it’s only been two weeks, the last thing McVay should want to do is allow Henderson’s talent go to waste throughout his rookie campaign.

For their Week 3 matchup, the Rams will be traveling to Ohio in what is expected to be another difficult battle against a team looking to make a statement in the Cleveland Browns to show they have what it takes to compete against a top defender.

Most likely, Los Angeles will see both Gurley and Brown receive a heavy workload in the backfield if Cleveland focuses most of their attention on the three-headed monster in the passing game, but why not give some carries to Henderson as well?

If anything, the use of Henderson could help the Rams throw off the Browns’ defense in a way they won’t see coming at all in front of a national audience.