Making sense of the Rams carrying 4 running backs on the roster

There is a great deal of talent and depth on the initial 53-man LA Rams roster. But while that is true across the board, there are certainly some positions where the team seems to be a bit 'thick,', particularly when considering the quality of talent that the team allowed to escape elsewhere.

Such is the manner of packing a 53-man roster with as much talent for a long and arduous 17-game season. It's a challenging task, as it requires the team to not only know how to optimize the team now, but to project how the team will need to address future injuries. And there is even a bit of luck, because if the team guesses wrong now, the team will need to shop for reinforcements then. The hope is that the right player who is the right fit for the team's needs will be available at the right price.

But there are some anomalies with the team's roster right now. The team seems a bit thick at both the running back and tight end positions.

At tight end, the team awaits the healthy return of starting tight end Tyler Higbee. In response to his injury, the team has opted to carry three tight ends on the roster to open the 2024 NFL season:

• TE Colby Parkinson (new in 2024)
• TE Davis Allen
• TE Hunter Long
• TE Tyler Higbee (IR)
• TE Brycen Hopkins (2023)

The thing is, the Rams seldom play more than two tight ends. Based on snap count data that is provided by Lineups.com, the Rams played a two-tight end formation less than 10 percent of the time. Per NFL savant.com, that is confirmed by the fact that the team ran a 12-personnel package just 6.7 percent of the time.

So why carry up to four tight ends? It seems to me that the Rams love to entertain the concept of varying offensive formations, but in the heat of the battle, all of that potential gets tossed out the window, and the team settles into a predictable pattern of running their default 11-personnel package almost exclusively.

The team used an 11-personnel package 93.2 percent of the time in 2023. The formation consists of one running back, one tight end, and three wide receivers. Curiously, the team is carrying just six wide receivers the initial 53-man roster. That begs the next question: What's up with four running backs?

Four running backs who seem awfully similar

The team is surprisingly carrying four running backs on the initial 53-man roster. When the group carried a diverse group of rushers that included RB Boston Scott, Kyren Williams, Ronnie Rivers, Blake Corum, and Zach Evans, the size and styles of each player covered wider spectrum of runners, and allowed the team to match the right player to the right game scenario.

I don't disagree that five runners were too many to carry into the 2024 NFL season. Yet the final results of roster tinkering have resulted in surprising homogeny in the running back room. Here's what I mean:

• Kyren Williams | 5-foot-9 | 202 pounds | third season
• Cody Schrader | 5-foot-9 | 214 pounds | rookie
• Ronnie Rivers | 5-foot-9 | 192 pounds | third season
• Blake Corum | 5-foot-8 | 210 pounds | rookie

That's a pretty tight range of running backs on the roster, particularly when you compare and contrast their running styles. While there are some subtle differences that you may detect over the full course of the season, their differences are not so pronounced as to allow one rusher to specialize over another for specific down and distance scenarios.

Clearly, that is what this team wants. But veteran RB Boston Scott was TNT in the red zone, far more effective at scoring than you may have guessed. And while RB Zach Evans was not quite 'there' yet, he was still developing. And he was the largest running back on the roster until released from both the roster, and then the practice squad.

Homogeny can be a good thing in terms of swapping parts seamlessly. But it does have a way of constricting the variety that defenses must face and plan to defend against. So be it. The Rams have found plenty of success, too much to be too pointed with questions over the team's strategy.

I'm simply confused. Four rushers, all with nearly identical size and similar running styles, feels like overkill. Perhaps it will all work out. I just do not see a pressing need for the team to carry four RBs on the roster. Perhaps the next round of roster tweaks will change that.

On the other hand, perhaps the team will begin to deploy more multiple TE and RB formations this season.

As always, thanks for reading.