The Los Angeles Rams never could have expected to start as many players as they have this season, but injuries have forced their hand. On the bright side, their backups and younger players are getting a lot more opportunities than they otherwise would have, and that was certainly the case on Sunday against the Broncos.
Brycen Hopkins, Cobie Durant and Earnest Brown IV all played the most snaps of their careers, while Larrell Murchison made the most of his debut with Los Angeles.
Here’s a breakdown of the snap counts from Week 16 against the Broncos.
Offense
The Rams pulled some of their starters for the final two drives of the game, so that allowed some reserves to get on the field at the end of the fourth quarter. Coleman Shelton and Matt Skura were the only two players who stayed out there for every snap.
With Ben Skowronek out, the Rams had to get creative with their group of pass catchers. Van Jefferson remained the top receiver, with Tutu Atwell and Brandon Powell each playing more than half the offensive snaps. Austin Trammell was the fourth receiver, with Lance McCutcheon playing eight snaps as the fifth receiver.
Interestingly, Brycen Hopkins played a season-high 38 snaps as the Rams utilized more two-tight end sets in the absence of Skowronek. There was a clear personnel shift offensively and it worked beautifully.
Cam Akers played 75% of the snaps, continuing to dominate the workload at running back. Kyren Williams only played eight snaps and Malcolm Brown played seven, with Ronnie Rivers getting one snap on the final kneeldown.
Defense
As you can see, the Rams went really deep on defense. There were 23 different players who suited up on that side of the ball and 12 of them played at least half of the snaps. Toward the end, the Rams pulled some of their starters in favor of the reserves, but Jalen Ramsey played every defensive snap still.
This was just the second time all year that Bobby Wagner didn’t play every snap. He played 88% of the defensive plays, with Ernest Jones only playing 45%.
Cobie Durant was the No. 3 cornerback once again despite David Long Jr. returning and being active for this game. He delivered with two interceptions, playing a career-high 76% of the snaps on defense. Robert Rochell was the fourth cornerback behind Ramsey, Troy Hill and Durant. Long didn’t play a single defensive snap, but he did play seven on special teams.
Earnest Brown IV played a career-high 34 snaps, finally emerging a little bit after being cut as a rookie in 2021. Bobby Brown III also played 29 defensive snaps as the Rams rotated their defensive linemen pretty often; Greg Gaines led the D-line with just a 55% snap share.
Michael Hoecht played one more snap than Leonard Floyd at edge rusher, continuing to get a lot of playing time in his transition to outside linebacker. Keir Thomas and Daniel Hardy each played more than 10 snaps, too.
