Rams veteran keeps proving at camp that he’s not going away quietly

The toughest part of retooling the Los Angeles Rams offense is understanding what needs to be changed and what needs to be left alone. It's an era of extremes, a love-hate culture that seems to take the stance that if you don't stand 100 percent for something, you must be standing 100 percent against it. Unfortunately, the truth is almost always found somewhere in the middle.

Correcting the Rams' rushing offense in 2025 is not a matter of blaming anyone. Nor is this a matter of getting rid of one player, only to set up another player to fail in the new season. The key to getting better at running with the football is understanding that successful strategies are not simply binary problems that involve a yes or no response. Instead, the path to success comes in incremental changes, a matter of finding the right blending of players for the right situations.

And it's such an important topic that we've been covering it from different angles. The Rams know that they need to improve at running the football. Sometimes, that means wholesale changes. At other times, it is simply a matter of giving veteran players a heads-up and letting them course correct on their own.

The Rams didn't like their alternatives

The greatest focus of the Rams' offseason has centered on running back Kyren Williams. While he never asked to take center stage during the Rams' maelstrom at running the football, the team's fixation has left fans and NFL analysts with few alternatives. William handled 80 percent of the team's carries, nearly 81 percent of the team's rushing yards, and 100 percent of the team's rushing touchdowns and fumbles.

Just examine the current Rams roster at the running back position, and you quickly discover that the Rams running back room boasts four players who were almost identical in height, weight, and speed. That is not the fault of Kyren Williams. Rather, the team loved Williams so much that they tried to replicate him again, and again, and again:

• RB Blake Corum | 5-foot-8 | 210 pounds | 4.53 seconds 40-yard dash | 58 carries | 207 yards | 0 TDs | 14.6 % carries | 12.9 % yards
• RB Ronnie Rivers | 5-foot-9 | 192 pounds | 4.60 seconds 40-yard dash | 22 carries | 99 yards | 0 TDs | 5.5 % carries | 6.2 % yards
• RB Cody Schrader | 5-foot-9 | 214 pounds | 4.61 seconds 40-yard dash | 1 carry | 3 yards | 0 TDs | 0.8 % carries | 0.2 % yards
• RB Kyren Williams | 5-foot-9 | 202 pounds | 4.65 seconds 40-yard dash | 316 carries | 1,299 yards | 14 TDs | 80.0 % carries | 80.8 % yards
• RB Jaquez Hunter | 5-foot-9 | 204 pounds | 4.44 seconds 40-yard dash | Rookie
• RB Jordan Waters | 6-foot-0 | 225 pounds | 4.57 seconds 40-yard dash | Rookie

The Rams had no success at running when it wasn't Williams. Rookie RB Blake Corum simply played far too few offensive snaps to keep his veteran teammate fresh and rested. RB Ronnie Rivers and Cody Schrader seemed to be afterthoughts, options that either the coaching staff forgot that they had or simply refused to allow onto the football field.

Never fear in a contract year

Kyren Williams was drafted in Round 5 in the 2022 NFL Draft. That means that he is eligible for an extension now, and the team and his agent are working to get a deal done. But like a prenuptial agreement, a contract extension for Williams is not simply a matter of paying him whatever he wants. The Rams have many reasons to take a slow and deliberate approach with Williams' extension, because the more thoughtful the process is invested now will serve to deflect and avoid heartache later.

And then there is the matter of trying to restore explosiveness to the team's rushing offense this year. Well, believe it or not, Kyren Williams is already working on that:

The Rams leaned far too heavily on Williams in 2024, something that the team must remedy this season. But it's not a matter of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Williams is a touchdown savant, a bloodhound who will find a way to score if he gets a whiff of the end zone. And while he has been run down from behind, he knows how to use his blockers until the last minute to find daylight.

The truth is that the Rams have all of the pieces for a dominant rushing attack in 2025. The team simply has to sort out when and how to use the running backs to optimize that phase of the offense. This may be Kyren Williams' final year on his rookie contract, but the Rams have every reason to optimize this season.

Rams veteran running back Kyren Williams keeps proving at camp that he’s not going away quietly. That merely raises the bar for his teammates who want a chance to contribute to the offense this season.

Sometimes, less is more. Let's see how well the Rams resolve that paradox. In the meantime, thanks so much for reading.

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