Sean McVay’s preseason plan has all the makings of an unexpected showcase

What are the Los Angeles Rams thinking about their running back room? Well, it's safe to say that the team is quite pleased with featured running back Kyren Williams. He just signed a new multi-year extension that will keep him with the team through 2028. That's a great first step to sorting through the half-dozen players competing for playing time and carries this year.

But it's still only one step. There are many more barriers to hurdle on this course. Now that LA has committed to Williams, the logical next step would seem to be who to pair him up with. But that's not as easy as it sounds. After all, the team has six running backs who have been practicing throughout training camp. But only one can sub in for Williams during a game.

The post-practice press conference held by Rams HC Sean McVay began with a recitation of details regarding quarterback Matthew Stafford's timeline and care plan. But the best details came later in the presser, when he casually shared details surrounding how he looked forward to seeing Blake (Corum), Jarquez (Hunter), and the other running backs in the preseason, beginning at the 4:55 mark.

He inferred the plan will be to get work to all running backs not named Kyren Williams. Oh, really?

The Rams are about to stampede the Dallas Cowboys

In the presser, several statements were made simultaneously, and we are here to unravel the spaghetti for you. By excluding Williams, the Rams were committing to the likelihood of using up to five running backs in the first preseason game. They are:

• Running Back: Kyren Williams | Blake Corum | Jarquez Hunter | Ronnie Rivers / Cody Schrader / Jordan Waters

That is a significant deviation from the 2024 preseason strategy. Despite the presence of both Blake Corum and Ronnie Rivers, the only Rams who saw meaningful action in that first preseason game were Boston Scott and Zach Evans. Neither would go on to make the team.

In hindsight, 27 carries in that first preseason game were spent on players who would never carry the football for the team in a regular season game. By the end of the preseason, Scott carried the football 36 times for 157 yards, while Evans would get 42 carries for 135 yards.

For the entirety of the 2024 season, non-Williams backs would carry the football just 81 times over the course of 17 games, and put up 309 rushing yards. In their earnest to bubble wrap players and keep them safe, the team wasted 78 carries that could have been distributed to other runners who needed the work before the season started.

But there is more at work here right now.

This feels like a mulligan. The Rams were so committed to keeping players safe, that they failed to recognize just how vital reps, snaps, and carries can be for young players. The team got next to nothing out of either Corum or Rivers because the team invested so little in them in the preseason.

That is about to change, and change drastically.

You are invited to check out the Rams offensive statistics from 2024. But be prepared to see some rookies make the highlight reel from this first preseason game. Of particular interest to me is the opportunity to see rookie Jarquez Hunter at work.

So far, we've seen plenty of video footage from the sideline. But I'd love to see football game camera angles that can capture Hunter's ability to smash between the tackles, while also kicking in the afterburners to get past the perimeter of the Dallas Cowboys' defense. Likewise, I'm very interested to see how Corum runs in the preseason. Will he dominate? Or will he seem to be just another running back with mid-level talent?

The Rams are sending five running backs into action against the Cowboys. I don't think we've ever had an opportunity to witness this much Rams talent in a preseason game under McVay before.

Grab your popcorn. This is going to be good. As always, thanks for reading.

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