7 reasons why Rams should not rush into an extension for RB Kyren Williams

Measure twice. Cut once. The carpenter's adage can apply to many scenarios in life. But in the NFL, the statement is both profound and brutally simple. For the Los Angeles Rams, it's wise advice as the team aims to complete negotiations to extend running back Kyren Williams.

There is never a great time to extend a player. As you read this, the Los Angeles Rams are pondering how much to offer as a fair market extension to fantastic feature running back Kyren Williams. And yet, it's not that simple, is it? Some fans want a new deal to keep Kyren Williams in-house for years to come as quickly as possible. And why not? After the past two seasons, Williams has been a breath of fresh air among a stagnant offense that seems to be falling further and further behind other NFL teams' scoring points.

But as the team prepares to engage in the 2025 NFL Draft, the abundance of rookie running back talent and perhaps the chance to upgrade the position offer other options. Still, the Rams want to get Williams inked to a new deal. And that is happening:

But at what price? Ah, therein lies the rub. After all, Williams offers the Rams an ability to score abundantly and consistently. That's critical to a team that has set its sights on ending up in the NFL Playoffs at the end of this season. And yet, there is a need to be cautious and not overpay. The Rams have done so in the past.

The team relied far too heavily on Kyren Williams in 2024 and did not rely at all on rookie RB Blake Corum. In the end, Williams was the only running back who scored at all for the team. Worst of all, the team's other three running backs were no bigger, no stronger, and no faster than Williams. They were all simply less-experienced and less productive alternative versions of Williams.

And there is no obvious relief in sight.

Rams want RB Kyren Williams around for years to come, affordably

Of course, that is not to say that the Rams front office and coaching staff are unaware of the problem. While the team has made some difficult decisions about the Rams roster for the 2025 NFL season already, I believe those moves are the first steps to a major makeover for the team on the offensive side of the football.

The team realized that a backlog of offensive weapons collecting dust and cobwebs on the bench is simply not good for anyone. So the team set about clearing the logjam before the problem grew to a critical mass. The team has parted ways with veteran wide receivers Cooper Kupp, Demarcus Robinson, and Tyler Johnson. Now the team is banking on the production of veteran WRs Davante Adams, Puka Nacua, Tutu Atwell, and Jordan Whittington.

And whomever the team may add during the 2025 NFL Draft.

While the Rams front office begins to dig into another effort to reconstruct an NFL championship roster for the team, there are other tasks left on the 'To Do' list that will eventually need attention as well.

It's the hope of every rookie who is drafted by an NFL team that their production and dependability will warrant extension talks from the team. And for Rams rookies, that is truly a huge deal, as many rookies play their hearts out for the duration of their first NFL contract, only to discover that the next payday comes from another NFL team.

For now, that is not the case for Kyren Williams, and he is thrilled by that:

Of course, committing to an extension is not the same as executing an extension. Kyren Williams and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, may have expectations over what his future contribution to the Rams is worth. The Rams and GM Les Snead may have an entirely different number in mind.

Per The Draft Network's Justin Melo, Kyren Williams could open negotiations demanding a three-year deal worth upwards of $46.5 million. an average per year of $15.5 million:

Are the Rams willing to allot that much of their salary cap to Kyren Williams now, with a desperately underused RB Blake Corum on the roster, and a 2025 NFL Draft teeming with almost unlimited potential at a much more affordable price? Thus begins the meticulous toil of establishing what Kyren Williams is worth, not isolated on an island, but to the team as a whole.

The Rams have four running backs on the roster. Ultimately, if William overprices himself or becomes too rigid in his negotiations, the team has many other options to explore. Would it be the optimal solution for either side? Perhaps not. But the Rams front office has been down this road before. And it's the team's history and future that makes me believe that the Rams are not rushing into anything.

What history? What future? I thought you would never ask:

VII - Deja Vu to ILB Ernest Jones rumors

The Los Angeles Rams hinted at an imminent extension of then-starting inside linebacker Ernest Jones in the spring of 2024. However, the euphoria from Jones on social media was quickly deleted, as the team determined to wait for the final season of Ernest Jones' rookie contract to conclude before entering into any extension talks.

By the time the 2024 NFL season arrived, the team had traded Jones for a bag of pretzels and opened the season with an unlikely pairing of ILBs Christian Rozeboom and Troy Reeder starting in the middle of the defense.

The same scenario is emerging as the Rams sit down to settle up with Williams for a contract extension. The thing is, the team enters negotiations firmly entrenched with the amount it is willing to pay. And if the response is anything less than willing to work with that amount, negotiations can erode quickly. If the Rams hope to sign Williams to a team-friendly amount by extending him early, Williams may not be willing to give the home team a discount.

The Rams pivoted from extending Ernest Jones to trading him away. The team should not push to make a deal now if the path to a Kyren Williams extension takes a similar direction.

VI - Are younger, hungrier RBs the Plan B to big Kyren Williams payday?

If the Los Angeles Rams take the economical option, the team could add a rookie running back with one of their first four picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, and land a very talented and economical option as a Plan B to cutting a hefty payroll check to Kyren Williams. After all, what do you suppose this team can do with $12 million more per year to spend on players? That is the conservative estimate of savings if the team simply rides Kyren Williams in his final season, while pivoting to a young RB drafted this year.

Of course, there is still RB Blake Corum who needs more carries as well

The Rams have four young running backs, all of whom are competing on their rookie contract. But there are so many very talented running backs up for grabs in the 2025 NFL Draft. I'm not sure that the team is wise not to add a running back. After all, the team has mini-camps, training camp, and preseason to work out the hierarchy of a depth chart.

It would be nice to expand the tight profile requirements for the running back position. Perhaps the time is right for the Rams to consider a bigger running back who brings power and authority to the position. After all, physicality is a direction that the team is pursuing.

And then, there is the new interest in putting speed and explosiveness into the offense as well.

V - What about explosive plays?

The Rams offense wants to be more explosive, score more, and climb the ladder of offensive effiriciency. While Kyren Williams was a solid contributor in terms of overall yardage and touchdowns, Williams regressed in 2024 to a player who put up big numbers due to huge volume. And that is not a good trend.

Kyren Williams mustered only two runs of 20+ yards from the line of scrimmage in 2024. Worse yet, no other rusher on the Rams roster (the team carried four running backs all season long) was able to put up even one long run. That's a huge problem, as the lack of explosion from the RB room is a design flaw.

The team was so eager to clone Kyren Williams on the roster, that the team ended up with four running backs who all fit the smallish, elusive, and a bit slow (in terms of RB speed) profile mastered by Williams. The challenge becomes the lack of variety in the way the Rams run. The team does not threaten defenses with speedy runners. The team does not have any rusher who can be confused with a power running back role, a runner who can move the pile or muscle into the end zone from three yards away.

IV - Too soon to Cooper Kupp trade news is just a bad look

There are many reasons for the team to part ways with veteran wide receiver Cooper Kupp. We will almost certainly never learn the extent and true reasons for the team to part ways with their past All-Pro and MVP receiver in 2025. But I suspect that the team's view of infusing more explosive plays into this offense requires creating opportunities for new and varying players. Kupp has been so outstandingly successful in this offense that the team has used his profile as the template for new additions.

As a result, the team was stuck in a rut in terms of the type of player added to the team at the wide receiver position.

And yet, the Rams flourished for some time by adapting that strategy. The thing is, how much time needs to lapse before the Rams pivot to large paydays to players remaining on the roster? I don't have the answer. But I do foresee some problems if the team cuts a huge check to Kyren Williams too quickly after releasing Kupp. The comparisons are inevitable: How could the Rams release Cooper Kupp, but turn around and make Kyren Williams so rich so quickly?

III - Can Rams blend Williams with another rusher?

The Los Angeles Rams offense does excellent work exploiting top performers. The challenge has never seemed to be finding a player or two at a position who flourish in this offense. The greater challenge has more often been getting more than one player to flourish. Rams GM Les Snead does a very commendable job at feeding talent to the Rams roster.

But not everyone finds an optimal level of work once they get here.

A perfect example was the pomp and ceremony that accompanied the Rams' investment of the 83rd overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft into former Michigan running back Blake Corum. Corum was the bell cow of the Wolverines' offense, the bread-and-butter guy who handles huge numbers of carries and wears down opposing defenses. And yet, the hope for a shared one-two punch workload in the Rams offense rapidly dissipated when the 2024 NFL season began. The Rams made no effort to integrate Corum into a rotational role in this offense beyond an occasional rest period for Williams.

II - What about economical veteran alternatives?

When the Rams front office staff sits down with Kyren Williams' representatives, the team will need to consider the financial implications of cutting a whopping check for Williams' services in the future. You see, Williams certainly deserves compensation for what he brings to the offense. But in the effort to reward Williams for his expertise, the team cannot allow that effort to lure the team into an overpay scenario.

Overpaying a player leads to disastrous results for both the team and player. In 2020, we took a closer look at the massive contracts executed by the team during and after their Super Bowl LIII appearance. The annual cost of players on the Rams roster in 2020 was:

• QB Jared Goff    –    $36,042,682
• DT Aaron Donald– $25,000,000
• RB Todd Gurley    – $17,250,000
• WR Brandin Cooks-$16,800,800
• CB Jalen Ramsey   -$13,703,000

One year later, only Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey were still with the team. High compensation for a player elevates the expectation from that player. Based on the team's experience in 2020 alone, those expectations are difficult to meet.

The annual free agency market is loaded with players who were viewed as underperforming by the executives and decision-makers from their former teams. That is not to say that they no longer have a place on an NFL roster. They simply need a contract that represents their fair market value.

For the running back position, many can be signed to a more economical contract than Kyren Williams.

There are several veteran free agent running backs who make sense for the Rams roster. If the team is reluctant to add another young running back to the team who will wilt on the bench, why not dabble in exploring what an accomplished and experienced veteran running back can add to this offense?

I - Williams is great, but not superman

Kyren Williams has quickly endeared himself to both coaches and fans in his first three NFL seasons. Since the team parted ways with former star running back Todd Gurley, the team has sought a capable and consistent presence in the backfield. Williams provides that.

But in the superhero power scale, Kyren WIlliams charts like Spider-Man, not Superman. What I mean is that he is capable of putting up yards, but does not trigger the faster than a speeding bullet attributes that you may associate with a Superman running back. The thing is, if the Rams want to add a Superman, he is readily available in this year's draft class. And there are at least 10 such options, many of which will fall to the Rams draft board several times:

Do the Rams possess a need for speed? Based on their offseason comments and posturing, that answer appears to be yes.

The Rams retained WR Tutu Atwell because he is a phenomenally fast offensive weapon whose only limits appear to be the team's reluctance to use him consistently. Now, just imagine how effective the team could be in 2025 if the Rams have blazing speed at both wide receiver and running back positions. The mere threat of failing at pursuit opens up both running lanes and the back end of defensive secondaries.

And back-pedaling defenders are unable to threaten veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford.

10+ running backs whose speed rivals that of Tutu Atwell, and leaves all other running backs eating dust, is a solid direction to take in 2025. Even if the Rams stick with three other runners, the shift to a speedier option is a step in the right direction. No BINGO player wins consistently with multiple cards that hold the same numbers. Variety is necessary to fit the varying scenarios that the Rams offense faces throughout the season.

Signing Kyren Williams to a multi-year extension prematurely takes many upgrade opportunities off the table. I'd rather the team measure twice and cut once. To do that, the team needs to slow down the Kyren Williams extension, if only for several months.

As always, thanks for reading.

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