Story at The Athletic indicating that the Rams hope rookie running back Kyren Williams will take over the Darrell Henderson role in the offense, if not this year than next. Henderson is in a contract year. A reasonable question is exactly what role that is. It's not a huge one.
Henderson has caught 45 passes in 27 games the last two seasons. Sony Michel averaged just over a catch per game last year. Either due to personnel or the offense itself, it's just not a big part of the plan.
A year ago, in fact, no team involved its running backs less in the passing game than Los Angeles. Targets, catches, yards: The Rams ranked last in the NFL in all three categories. (Table sorted by running back receiving yards per game.)
| RUNNING BACK RECEIVING, 2021 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Tgt | No | Yds | TD | YPG |
| Atlanta | 146 | 110 | 896 | 6 | 52.7 |
| LA Chargers | 131 | 101 | 879 | 8 | 51.7 |
| Las Vegas | 145 | 118 | 869 | 2 | 51.1 |
| Carolina | 142 | 107 | 864 | 3 | 50.8 |
| Kansas City | 112 | 90 | 824 | 5 | 48.5 |
| Washington | 127 | 103 | 814 | 5 | 47.9 |
| New England | 111 | 93 | 805 | 2 | 47.4 |
| NY Jets | 130 | 84 | 775 | 2 | 45.6 |
| Arizona | 103 | 89 | 762 | 3 | 44.8 |
| Detroit | 136 | 110 | 760 | 3 | 44.7 |
| Green Bay | 106 | 89 | 712 | 8 | 41.9 |
| Tampa Bay | 138 | 110 | 698 | 6 | 41.1 |
| Cleveland | 104 | 84 | 682 | 4 | 40.1 |
| Indianapolis | 113 | 82 | 678 | 3 | 39.9 |
| Cincinnati | 98 | 85 | 665 | 6 | 39.1 |
| Dallas | 118 | 92 | 653 | 3 | 38.4 |
| San Francisco | 99 | 82 | 647 | 2 | 38.1 |
| New Orleans | 108 | 79 | 642 | 6 | 37.8 |
| Tennessee | 103 | 82 | 627 | 1 | 36.9 |
| Minnesota | 115 | 90 | 603 | 1 | 35.5 |
| NY Giants | 116 | 91 | 567 | 4 | 33.4 |
| Houston | 104 | 79 | 557 | 2 | 32.8 |
| Denver | 93 | 73 | 551 | 5 | 32.4 |
| Seattle | 88 | 69 | 526 | 1 | 30.9 |
| Buffalo | 96 | 73 | 520 | 4 | 30.6 |
| Pittsburgh | 109 | 82 | 514 | 3 | 30.2 |
| Philadelphia | 106 | 74 | 513 | 1 | 30.2 |
| Chicago | 91 | 73 | 504 | 1 | 29.6 |
| Miami | 96 | 72 | 427 | 4 | 25.1 |
| Jacksonville | 93 | 59 | 417 | 1 | 24.5 |
| Baltimore | 83 | 62 | 411 | 2 | 24.2 |
| LA Rams | 76 | 53 | 314 | 4 | 18.5 |
This is not to say I have no interest in Williams; I have him on a dynasty roster. But not for the Henderson role, which is minimal, but for the possibility that he winds up with a greater share of the offense at some point. Cam Akers wasn't impressive in the playoffs, and I'll need to see him be effective and productive on the field before I buy into a full Achilles recovery. Williams is undersized (5-9, 194) and ran a 4.65 at the combine, so perhaps he'll never be anything more than a backup. But for me the depth chart isn't intimidating enough ahead of him to rule out a chance to start some games this season or next.
I'd rather bet on that than some kind of significant PPR impact as a third-down back. In the Rams offense, it doesn't look likely.
--Andy Richardson