As talented as Kyren Williams is, he also comes with some legitimate injury concerns. During his rookie season in 2022, he broke his foot in OTAs and sprained his ankle on the opening kickoff, costing him seven games. Last year, he injured his ankle in Week 6 and missed four games because of it.
In his first two NFL seasons, he’s been placed on injured reserve twice – and that doesn’t include the broken hand he suffered in the Rams’ playoff loss to the Lions. That’s not a great track record, to say the least.
The Rams are a much better team when Williams is on the field, which is why they’re going to do what they can to keep him healthy. That plan included drafting Blake Corum, who can help spell Williams and take some of the wear and tear off of him.
Sean McVay was asked Wednesday about being cautious with Williams and he acknowledged the need to “be smart” with the team’s starting running back in order keep him fresh for a potential postseason run. He also reiterated that Williams is going to be the starter and lead the running back room, which isn’t a surprise after the season he just had.
“I think the thing we have to be smart (about) is once we get into the regular season, in terms of the amount of touches. We’ll be smart,” McVay said. “We’re always intentional about what those guys’ workload progressions look like but you don’t get better at football without practicing. When I’ve kind of talked about that, what I’m mainly talking about is the amount of carries that he did a great job of being able to handle last year. But if you want to be able to hopefully get an opportunity to play after those 17 games, hopefully stay healthy through those 17, knowing what an instrumental part he is going to be, you want to be smart about that. So that’s where we can be mindful of it. In the meantime, he’s going to go, he’s going to lead the way for that running back room and I thought he started off on the right foot today.”
The Rams were 8-4 when Williams was active last season 2-3 when he was out. When he rushed for at least 80 yards, they were 7-1. McVay knows how much better the offense is when Williams is available and he loves what he’s seen from the third-year back already this offseason.
With Williams being a full participant in training camp after missing OTA sessions in the spring, McVay is happy to have No. 23 in the backfield again.
“Looked pretty good to me. I said on a couple of runs, ‘Man, did I miss you in the offseason.’ What I thought was cool is he’s got such a good feel, such an ownership, such a good pace through the hole and then I thought that elevated the rest of the backs,” McVay said. “I thought Blake Corum had some really good runs. I thought Ronnie Rivers, Boston Scott. But I think it starts with Kyren and it was great to have him out here. He’s just got such a good energy that this guy loves playing football. I love working with him and certainly didn’t see anything that looked any different than the stud that we know.”
Corum is going to get his opportunities this season as the No. 2 back, which will have to come at the expense of Williams’ snaps. But the Rams also drafted Corum as an insurance policy in case Williams gets hurt again. They’re similar backs so if Williams does go down, Corum should be able to seamlessly step in as the starter.
We don’t yet know how McVay will divvy up the carries between Williams and Corum, but it’s clear Williams is the top back still.
