Week 1 always brings about a few surprises, both from a performance perspective and a playing-time one. The Rams had a few unexpected developments in both departments, blowing out the Seahawks in a 30-13 road victory where the offense was shockingly good without Cooper Kupp and the defense held Seattle to 12 second-half yards.
As far as the playing time goes, Kyren Williams played nearly twice the snaps that Cam Akers did. At safety, John Johnson III didn’t step foot on the field despite looking like he’d be in line to start next to Jordan Fuller.
Buy Rams TicketsBelow is a full breakdown of the Rams’ snap counts from Sunday’s win over the Seahawks, analyzing how much everyone played – or didn’t play – in Week 1.
Offense
It sure was nice to see all five offensive linemen play the entire game, something that rarely happened last season. None of the starters came off the field a single time, playing all 81 offensive snaps.
At running back, there was a surprising split between Cam Akers and Kyren Williams. Though Akers got more carries than Williams, 22-15, it was Williams who played significantly more snaps. He was on the field for 53 snaps compared to just 28 snaps for Akers. So when Akers was on the field, he was typically getting the ball.
At wide receiver, Van Jefferson (75 snaps) predictably played the most snaps as the No. 1 receiver, but Tutu Atwell (64 snaps) and Puka Nacua (63 snaps) played a lot, too. Ben Skowronek was the No. 4 wideout, playing 21 snaps, while Demarcus Robinson came on for just three plays.
The tight end position was owned by Tyler Higbee, who played all but seven snaps, but Brycen Hopkins carved out a nice little role for himself with 23 snaps played. Davis Allen got on the field for one play.
Defense
Let’s start with the safety group, where Jordan Fuller and Russ Yeast started the game and played every snap. Fuller was always expected to be the top safety as a team captain, but the biggest surprise was that John Johnson III didn’t play a single snap. Not one. He did play 10 special teams snaps so it’s not as if he was hurt. Quentin Lake was the third safety, playing nine snaps in the win.
At cornerback, Cobie Durant was perceived to be CB1, but in his “star” role, he came off the field for 11 of the 51 defensive snaps. Derion Kendrick and Ahkello Witherspoon both led the cornerback group with 47 snaps played. Rookie Tre Tomlinson only played four snaps as the fourth cornerback.
The split at outside linebacker was about what we expected. Michael Hoecht and Byron Young were the starters and primary edge rushers, while Zach VanValkenburg rotated in on 11 snaps as the third option. Nick Hampton played just one snap as the fourth edge rusher on the depth chart.
Aaron Donald led the defensive line with an 82% snap share, and it was Kobie Turner who played the second-most snaps up front (57%). Jonah Williams and Bobby Brown III played 20 and 19 snaps, respectively. Larrell Murchison and Earnest Brown IV didn’t play much.
Ernest Jones was on the field for all 51 snaps as the defensive signal caller, and he was flanked by Christian Rozeboom, who played 34 snaps. The Rams didn’t deploy a third linebacker in the game.
