How should Rams resolve RB abundance in draft with no room on roster?

The Los Angeles Rams have four running backs on their roster. And for what it's worth, the team could have gotten by with two running backs on the 53-man Rams roster, and one on the team's practice squad. But the team carried four players on the roster, so it's all water under the bridge, right? Well, maybe not.

You see, there are two challenges with the Rams' running back room. One is external, one is internal. But as we step back a moment to assess the Rams' strategy for the 2025 NFL Draft, the two combine to make any soothsaying about the running back position near impossible to predict. You see, the Rams extended RB Ronnie Rivers. While Rivers certainly deserved the opportunity to compete for the Rams in 2025, the action complicates the overall offseason strategy.

With the return of Rivers, the Rams already boast four running backs, all of whom made the team's roster in 2024. Not only made the roster, but they were also carried on the roster all season long. Why did the team need four running backs? It's a mystery. Per Lineups.com, the team never played more than one running back at a time. Except for Week 18, a game in which RB Blake Corum suffered an injury, the team never sent more than two running backs to the football field in any game.

So, why did the team need four running backs?

The Clone Wars

The Rams love running backs who are small and feisty. In fact, if you examine the four running backs on the roster, it's tough to detect much difference among any. What do I mean? Let's list out the running backs currently on the Rams roster, and you decide if they have very similar characteristics:

• Kyren Williams | Age: 24 | 5-foot-9 | 202 pounds | 4 yrs in NFL
• Cody Schrader | Age: 25 | 5-foot-9 | 214 pounds | 2 yrs in NFL
• Ronnie Rivers | Age: 24 | 5-foot-9 | 192 pounds | 4 yrs in NFL
• Blake Corum | Age: 24 | 5-foot-8 | 210 pounds | 2 yrs in NFL

Do you see the pattern? I'm not clear if cloning running backs was a deliberate action for the team's running back, but the Rams have dug a hole for themselves in terms of versatility. The team's rusher are almost identical is height, weight, age, experience, and style. None can be counted on to move the pile forward, consistently break tackles, or wear down opposing defenses by pounding the rock into the midst of the defense.

Ironically, as the Rams seemed to be focused on becoming bigger and more physical with offensive linemen up front, the team has worked to become smaller and more elusive in the backfield. While the team has shed bigger running backs after one season, it's tough to ignore the fact that bigger runners like Sony Michel, Malcolm Brown, and Royce Freeman did not offer up a nice change of pace runner who kept defenses off balance and honest. Despite limited carries, all managed to score at least once.

In 2024, the only running back to score was Kyren Williams.

Too much talent to ignore

That brings us to the next challenge. The 2025 NFL Draft is dripping with abundant talent at the running back position. In the 2024 NFL Draft, only 10 rookie prospects had a grade of 6.00 or better. The latest that any rookie from that group was selected was Purdue RB Tyrone Tracy Jr., who was chosen by the New York Giants late in Round 5.

Contrast that with the abundance of talent projected in the 2025 NFL Draft. 22 rookie running back prospects have grades of 6.00 or better. Just to put that into context, only 20 running backs heard their names called out in the 2024 NFL Draft. So you could expect at least one of more rookie rushers in this draft class to fall to Round 7, or out of the draft altogether. That's how deep and talented this rookie running back class is.

Of course, the Rams are not compelled to select any running backs. But it's likely that the team will make a selection in Round 6, a round in which they hold four picks.

In the 2024 NFL Draft, the Rams selected Michigan RB Blake Corum (grade of 6.15) with the 83rd overall pick in Round 3. He was viewed as the 8th best prospect in last year's draft. This year's rookie class has 13 rookies with a grade of 6.15 or better. If the Rams could spend a Round 3 pick on a rookie who would only get 58 carries in his rookie season, can the team invest a Round 6 pick in a rookie to sit on the bench and might not see any action for four seasons?

Economically, it make far too much sense to do so. With RB Kyren Williams entering the final season of his rookie career, the financial repercussions of signing him to a big contract is very divisive. Pouring a lot of money into a player who is on the smallish side, has regressed a bit as the workload increases, and has stuggled with ball security is a risky move. If the team drafts a running back in the 2025 NFL Draft, that sets the stage for Blake Corum to step into the featured RB role in 2026, the new rookie to take over as the relief back, and all for pennies on the dollar that it would cost to commit to Williams on his next contract.

How will the team address running backs in the 2025 NFL Draft? With the Rams roster already boasting four running backs, is there more room at the inn for another runner? Of is the abundance of running backs in the 2025 NFL Draft, coupled with the incredible success of running back-centric teams in 2024, enough to lure the team into spending a draft pick on a new offensive weapon.

Stay tuned. Whatever the team chooses to do in the draft holds long-term impacts for the team, and players. As always, thank you so much for reading.

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