LA Rams running backs are once more light on experience

The LA Rams may be talking explosiveness on offense, might be rumored to be in the market for a superstar wide receiver in an imminent NFL trade, and may have gone all Super Saiyan at their quarterback position, but the team needs to balance all of those aerial fireworks out with a grind-it-out ground game.

But have you noticed something? The LA Rams have five running backs on the roster right now. They are Cam Akers, Darrell Henderson, Xavier Jones, Raymond Calais, and Jake Funk. But in terms of experience on an NFL offense? This group is still a bit on the green side. Cam Akers has just 297 offensive snaps in his name. Darrell Henderson has just 440 offensive snaps to his name. That’s just 737 offensive snaps in the entire running back room.

A normal starting running back will have 750-850 offensive snaps in just one NFL season. Compared to that amount of experience from just one rookie season on an effective offense, and you can see that the numbers suggest that running backs coach Thomas Brown has his work cut out for him this season.

Los Angeles Rams

Brown and Gurley are gone.

In 2020, the LA Rams parted ways with veteran running back Todd Gurley, Of course, the team still had the experience of veteran Malcolm Brown. But Brown has since signed on with the Miami Dolphins in the offseason, and the Rams are now committed to facing the 2021 NFL season with players who have really have not carried the load for an entire NFL season before. In fact, 60 percent of the available running backs have yet to carry the ball in an NFL game.

There is not much chatter about the running game at all. Are the coaches convinced that young and for the most part untested players can hold up under the pressure for a Super Bowl run? Or is it that the organization simply has that much faith in Coach Brown to get them there? In any case, it’s not the ideal situation for a team that wants to win it all.

Since the LA Rams are one of the youngest teams in the NFL, it merely falls to reason that the team will need to rely upon some inexperienced players to get the job done. That is certainly the case at the running back position right now. If the Rams change their mind and suddenly want experience behind the quarterback? That player is not currently on the Rams roster.