Rams RB Kyren Williams can run, but he can't hide from this concerning trend

LA Rams running back Kyren Williams was once suspected to be pitted against rookie running back Blake Corum for playing time in 2024. But who is kidding whom? After 11 games, Williams has carried the football 207 times for 822 yards and nine touchdowns. The remainder of the Rams have carried the football 60 times for 224 yards and no touchdowns. Rookie Blake Corum finds himself part of that 'all other,' category.

And yet, during the 2024 NFL Draft, the LA Rams felt that former Michigan running back Blake Corum would be so valuable in this Rams offense that he deserved to be selected in Round 3 with the 83rd overall pick. Don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't think Corum deserved to be selected that early in the draft. I just struggled to see a Round 3 value of any running back in the LA Rams offense who was the same height, weight, and running style as Williams.

11 games into the season, Courm has 106 rushing yards and 31 receiving yards. Not much production from the third rookie selected by the team.

It's tough to pry carries and snaps form Kyren Williams, I get that. But Williams is wearing down. It's either that or he is just getting sloppy. You see, Williams has fumbled the football five times in 2024, and lost three of those fumbles. That is more than all rushers in 2023. In fact, to find any running back with that many fumbles, you have to travel back to 2017, when RB Todd Gurley fumbled five times and lost just two. But he carried the football 279 times, rushed for 1305 yards and scored 13 touchdowns.

Kyren Williams is nowhere close to those numbers. Running Back Kyren Williams stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 202 pounds. In fact, almost all four Rams rushers stand 5-foot-9 (Blake Corum stands 5-foot-8) and weigh between 192 and 214 pounds. We'll talk about why that creates a problem later this week. For now, suffice it to say that Williams may be maxed out with 207 carries in 11 games.

Five fumbles is way over the top. The problem is, Williams bad habit of coughing up the football is accelerating. He did not fumble once in the first four games of the season. He fumbled once in the first seven games of the season. But he has fumbled four times over the past four games.

The Los Angeles Rams are simply not good enough to win games when that happens.

Normally, a gift-giving running back is penalized for bad ball security by discovering his snaps are suddenly being shared with teammates. But that is not happening this year with the Rams. No matter what, Williams gets the carries.

Whether fatigued or distracted, Williams has no excuse for that. Two fumbles against the Eagles ground the Rams' offense to a halt. But as long as the team keeps feeding him the football, I suppose everyone on the team shy a few fans is okay with it. The team has to get rookie RB Blake Corum far more involved in the offense, and pronto.

Thanks for reading.

More Rams News and Analysis