RB Kyren Williams cannot fix the Rams rushing offense all by himself

The Los Angeles Rams running back future is all over the place right now. Even as the team has entered into negotiations with featured running back Kyren Williams to extend him beyond 2025, the team has quietly stuff the running back room with talent. Was it simply a matter of adding running backs to the roster while the talent was high and the cost of doing so was low? Or did the Rams front office want to set a message to their star rusher even as negotiations for a new contract got underway?

The Rams roster boasts six running backs right now. Four of whom are returning from the 2024 Rams roster. One was selected in the 2025 NFL Draft. But even undrafted rookie Jordan Waters is quite intriguing at 6-foot-0 and 225 pounds. Ideally, the Rams should be content with three running backs on their 53-man roster this season.

Therefore, contract negotiations between the team and Kyren Williams must be based on skillful and honest dialogue. This is no time to embellish or omit key factors. Based on the latest interview, it appears as though RB Kyren Williams gets it:

Williams was the Rams bell cow in terms of carries in 2024. He carried the football 315 times out of the team's 450 total carries. In terms of running backs alone, he handled more than 80 percent of the carries. That was too much of a burden to place on one running backs shoulders.

He fumbled the football five times, which was the second-most fumbles by any NFL running back last season. His three lost fumbles were the most by any running back in 2024. But was it a matter of problems with the player or the team? After all, the Rams spent a valuable draft pick to add rookie running back Blake Corum. He only carried the football 58 times.

But he offered nothing different than Williams.

From cookie cutter RBs to new dimensions

The challenge with the options at running back in 2024 was that the team had insisted on carrying four players on the roster with similar height, weight, and speed. So when Kyren Williams showed signs of fatigue, it was not an easy decision to sit him and play another running back. Williams had the most experience, and even as he struggled, gave the Rams the best option to have positive plays.

How similar were the four running backs? See for yourself:

• Kyren Williams | Age: 24 | 5-foot-9 | 202 pounds | 4 yrs in NFL | 4.65-second 40
• Cody Schrader | Age: 25 | 5-foot-9 | 214 pounds | 2 yrs in NFL | 4.61-second 40
• Ronnie Rivers | Age: 24 | 5-foot-9 | 192 pounds | 4 yrs in NFL | 4.60-second 40
• Blake Corum | Age: 24 | 5-foot-8 | 210 pounds | 2 yrs in NFL | 4.53-second 40
• * Jarquez Hunter * | Age: 22 | 5-foot-9 | 204 pounds | Rookie | 4.44-second 40
• * Jordan Waters * | Age 24 | 6-foot-0 | 210 pounds | Rookie | 4.59-second 40

* denotes 2025 rookie

As you can see, Williams is not a particular big, powerful, or speedy running back. It's his lack of breakaway speed to landed the Rams rushing offense at the bottom of the NFL in terms of putting up just two running plays of 20+ yards.

I don't fault Williams as much as I fault some of the decision-making. Does it make sense to draft a potent running back whose forte was wearing down defenses, only to sit him on the bench? Does it make any sense to carry four running backs on the roster if the 17-game offensive plan is to play one running back at a time?

Defenses were able to crowd the box, giving the Rams rushing attack even less chance of success. Worst of all, no matter who carried the football, they all ran at the same speed.

Can Kyren Williams lead a RB committee in 2025?

If you review the Rams two rookie additions for 2025, one thing you will note is that neither has the same biographical profile as Kyren Williams. While rookie RB Jarquez Hunter is similarly sized, he is far faster, running a 40-yard dash in just 4.44 seconds. But he is also a powerful north-south running who has the power to rip through arm tackles, and even move the pile.

While undrafted running back Jordan Waters is only a tad faster than Williams, he stands 6-foot-0 and weighs 210 pounds, checking the box as a potential power back in the Rams offense.

Still, even as the front office added new dimensions to the roster to bolster the running game, it will make no difference if the tema insists on handing the football off to Kyren Williams 80 percent of the time this season. As in many things, more carries does not always translate into more yards. Williams carried the football 88 more times in 2024, but only generated 155 more yards and two additional touchdowns.

Would the Rams have been wiser to reroute those additional 88 carries through rookie RB Blake Corum? While we may never know, it does follow that fewer carries would have kept Williams rested and more resistant to fumbles.

Even Kyren Williams himself is fully aware that he needs to improve ball security.

""I was able to play throughout the whole season, so I was able to learn from that, but also from the mistakes too – the fumbling and the mental lapses of just being out there. But for me, I am a lot more clear coming into this year, I have a lot more focus-driven goal. I am not worried about a lot of things on the outside that does not affect me. I am more worried about how I can affect this team positively, and how I can be the best version of myself every single day.""

Kryen Williams

Could the Rams offense succeed by deploying the 2020 game plan of a running back by committe? It worked for rookie Cam Akers, and veterans Darrell Henderson Jr. and Malcolm Brown. The Rams could allow Kyren Williams approximately 200 carries in 2025, with Blake Corum and Jarquez Hunter handling about 100 carries apiece.

The Rams have to do something differently. Kyren Williams is most effective when the team doesn't run him into the ground. And the roster has more than enough talent to dispatch more than one running back to handle the work load. All this team needs to do is execute that type of plan.

And in the process, be honest to Williams that he is going to face sharing the workload.

As always, thanks for reading.

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