Like every other team, the Los Angeles Rams put out an unofficial depth chart before Week 1 to give fans an idea of where each player stood. However, that depth chart wasn’t put together by the coaching staff, so it didn’t accurately reflect the pecking order in the eyes of Sean McVay and Raheem Morris.
We got a much clearer picture of the actual depth chart based on the snap counts from Thursday’s loss to the Bills, and there sure were some surprising developments. Darrell Henderson Jr. was unquestionably the No. 1 running back, Jordan Fuller has fallen out of favor a bit and the Rams were in 11 personnel the entire night.
McVay and Morris relied heavily on their starters, barely playing their backups on either side of the ball – including no backup cornerbacks.
Offense
The Rams started 11 players on offense: three receivers, one tight end and one running back. All 11 of those players were on the field for at least 82% of the snaps. The back who played the most was Cam Akers, and he was only out there for 12 snaps (18%).
It’s very clear the coaching staff prefers Henderson to Akers right now, and the gap between them was massive: 55 snaps to 12. Kyren Williams was the No. 3 back entering the game, but he got hurt on the first special teams play of the night.
Tutu Atwell was the fourth receiver, and he only played seven snaps, dropping the only target of the game he saw. Ben Skowronek is far ahead of Atwell right now and Atwell’s playing time will probably decline more when Van Jefferson returns.
Brycen Hopkins’ only four snaps came when Tyler Higbee was given a break. The two of them were never on the field together.
Allen Robinson played all but two snaps, yet he was only targeted twice and caught one pass for 12 yards. He was a complete non-factor in his Rams debut.
Defense
After being a starter for the last two years and a captain and defensive signal caller last season, Jordan Fuller has dropped to No. 3 on the depth chart at safety. While he technically got the start alongside Taylor Rapp and Nick Scott, he played far less than either of those two safeties. Fuller played just 18 snaps compared to 52 for Scott and all 59 for Rapp.
The Rams deployed only three cornerbacks all night: Jalen Ramsey, Troy Hill and David Long Jr. Hill played the best of the three, and both Long and Ramsey gave up deep catches, but the Rams still didn’t give Robert Rochell or Cobie Durant a single snap.
Bobby Wagner played every snap in his debut, but Ernest Jones still got opportunities. Jones was on the field with Wagner for 34 snaps, or 58% of the time.
Justin Hollins and Terrell Lewis had a pretty even split as the No. 2 edge rusher. Hollins played 59% of the snaps compared to 39% for Lewis, while Leonard Floyd was on the field 86% of the time. Floyd didn’t have a single pressure, though.
Aaron Donald, Greg Gaines and A’Shawn Robinson barely got a break on the defensive line. Marquise Copeland played eight snaps and Jonah Williams played seven, but the starters were out there for most of the game.
