Participating in an experts draft a couple of weeks ago, I was feeling pretty happy about being able to select Rams running back Kyren Williams at 2.10. People seemed to be way more concerned about Blake Corum than I thought they should be. I'm not feeling quite as good today.
Williams, according to Sean McVay, is dealing with a foot issue and will not take part in the Rams' offseason program this spring. "It's nothing to worry about," says McVay. "He'll be ready to go for training camp, but there's a little issue when he was training, and [I'll] kind of just leave it at that. But nothing to be concerned about."
If you're a glass is half full type, you'll focus on the words "nothing to be concerned about." If you're a glass is half empty type, though, you'll be alarmed by "dealing with a foot issue....when he was training." Running backs with foot issues are a concern. I'm not going to make the leap of describing the different kinds of foot injuries, since we just don't know, but to me it's troubling. I will need to know more before I proactively select him as a starter, however much McVay downplays it.
Last year, Williams was the best running back in the league short of Christian McCaffrey. On a per-game basis, anyway. In his 11 games, he averaged 22 PPR points. That was 2nd-best among all running backs to start at least 9 games.
| RUNNING BACKS PER GAME, 2023 (9-PLUS) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | Run | No | Rec | Total | TD | PPR |
| Christian McCaffrey, S.F. | 16 | 91.2 | 4.2 | 35.3 | 126.4 | 1.3 | 24.7 |
| Kyren Williams, LAR | 11 | 99.3 | 2.9 | 18.5 | 117.8 | 1.2 | 22.0 |
| Raheem Mostert, Mia. | 15 | 67.5 | 1.7 | 11.7 | 79.1 | 1.4 | 18.0 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 13 | 53.4 | 5.8 | 35.8 | 89.2 | 0.5 | 17.9 |
| DeVon Achane (C), Mia. | 11 | 72.7 | 2.5 | 17.9 | 90.6 | 1.0 | 17.5 |
| Breece Hall, NYJ | 17 | 58.5 | 4.5 | 34.8 | 93.2 | 0.5 | 17.1 |
| Travis Etienne, Jac. | 17 | 59.3 | 3.4 | 28.0 | 87.3 | 0.7 | 16.6 |
| Jahmyr Gibbs (C), Det. | 15 | 63.0 | 3.5 | 21.1 | 84.1 | 0.7 | 16.3 |
| Saquon Barkley, NYG | 14 | 68.7 | 2.9 | 20.0 | 88.7 | 0.7 | 16.2 |
| Rachaad White, T.B. | 17 | 58.2 | 3.8 | 32.3 | 90.5 | 0.5 | 16.0 |
| Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 16 | 60.8 | 3.6 | 30.4 | 91.3 | 0.5 | 15.8 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | 17 | 60.8 | 3.1 | 22.1 | 82.9 | 0.7 | 15.7 |
| James Conner, Ari. | 13 | 80.0 | 2.1 | 12.7 | 92.7 | 0.7 | 15.5 |
| Isiah Pacheco, K.C. | 14 | 66.8 | 3.1 | 17.4 | 84.2 | 0.6 | 15.4 |
| David Montgomery, Det. | 14 | 72.5 | 1.1 | 8.4 | 80.9 | 1.0 | 14.9 |
| Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 13 | 61.9 | 2.8 | 22.8 | 84.7 | 0.5 | 14.1 |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 17 | 68.6 | 1.6 | 12.6 | 81.2 | 0.7 | 14.0 |
| James Cook, Buff. | 17 | 66.0 | 2.6 | 26.2 | 92.2 | 0.4 | 13.9 |
| Austin Ekeler, LAC | 14 | 44.9 | 3.6 | 31.1 | 76.0 | 0.4 | 13.8 |
| Brian Robinson, Was. | 15 | 48.9 | 2.4 | 24.5 | 73.4 | 0.6 | 13.5 |
| Devin Singletary, Hou. | 10 | 71.5 | 2.3 | 15.1 | 86.6 | 0.4 | 13.4 |
| D'Andre Swift, Phil. | 15 | 69.7 | 2.5 | 14.3 | 84.0 | 0.4 | 13.3 |
| Kenneth Walker, Sea. | 15 | 60.3 | 1.9 | 17.3 | 77.6 | 0.6 | 13.3 |
| Tony Pollard, Dall. | 17 | 59.1 | 3.2 | 18.3 | 77.4 | 0.4 | 13.2 |
| Chuba Hubbard, Car. | 12 | 62.3 | 2.3 | 14.7 | 77.0 | 0.4 | 12.5 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | 11 | 59.6 | 2.7 | 21.2 | 80.8 | 0.3 | 12.4 |
| Jerome Ford, Cle. | 15 | 44.7 | 2.7 | 19.6 | 64.3 | 0.5 | 12.4 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | 12 | 51.6 | 3.2 | 19.8 | 71.4 | 0.3 | 12.3 |
| Jaylen Warren (C), Pitt. | 17 | 46.1 | 3.6 | 21.8 | 67.9 | 0.2 | 11.8 |
| Khalil Herbert (C), Chi. | 9 | 62.2 | 1.9 | 13.8 | 76.0 | 0.4 | 11.7 |
| Najee Harris, Pitt. | 17 | 60.9 | 1.7 | 10.0 | 70.9 | 0.5 | 11.6 |
| Javonte Williams, Den. | 16 | 48.4 | 2.9 | 14.3 | 62.6 | 0.4 | 11.3 |
| Gus Edwards, Balt. | 17 | 47.6 | 0.7 | 10.6 | 58.2 | 0.8 | 11.2 |
| Alexander Mattison, Min. | 13 | 50.8 | 2.1 | 13.4 | 64.2 | 0.2 | 9.9 |
| Tyjae Spears (C), Ten. | 17 | 26.6 | 3.1 | 22.6 | 49.3 | 0.2 | 9.0 |
| Antonio Gibson (C), Was. | 14 | 15.7 | 3.0 | 26.2 | 41.9 | 0.1 | 8.1 |
| Kareem Hunt (C), Cle. | 15 | 27.4 | 1.0 | 5.6 | 33.0 | 0.6 | 7.9 |
| Ezekiel Elliott (C), N.E. | 12 | 35.8 | 2.0 | 12.8 | 48.6 | 0.2 | 7.9 |
| Tyler Allgeier (C), Atl. | 16 | 39.0 | 0.9 | 8.8 | 47.8 | 0.3 | 7.7 |
| Samaje Perine (C), Den. | 17 | 14.0 | 2.9 | 26.8 | 40.8 | 0.1 | 7.4 |
| AJ Dillon (C), G.B. | 9 | 31.1 | 1.7 | 15.3 | 46.4 | 0.1 | 7.0 |
| Justice Hill (C), Balt. | 16 | 24.2 | 1.8 | 12.9 | 37.1 | 0.3 | 7.0 |
| Roschon Johnson (C), Chi. | 15 | 23.5 | 2.3 | 13.9 | 37.4 | 0.1 | 6.8 |
| Jaleel McLaughlin (C), Den. | 15 | 27.0 | 2.0 | 11.1 | 38.1 | 0.1 | 6.6 |
| Kenneth Gainwell (C), Phil. | 14 | 17.7 | 1.9 | 11.6 | 29.4 | 0.2 | 5.8 |
| Zach Charbonnet (C), Sea. | 14 | 25.4 | 2.0 | 11.4 | 36.7 | 0.0 | 5.7 |
| Latavius Murray (C), Buff. | 16 | 18.8 | 1.1 | 7.4 | 26.2 | 0.3 | 5.2 |
| Miles Sanders (C), Car. | 11 | 22.0 | 1.1 | 6.6 | 28.6 | 0.0 | 4.0 |
Los Angeles used its third-round pick on Michigan workhorse Blake Corum. Corum is a smaller back, but he's bigger than Kyren. And while the Rams do still have Ronnie Rivers and last year's late-rounder Zach Evans, I think Corum will probably be the backup in this offense, and will be getting a lot of first-team work during the offseason program.
If we're drafting this week (we shouldn't be), move Williams down the rankings some. And select Corum a little earlier than you otherwise might. Could be more necessary to one of the league's better offenses than anticipated a day or two ago.
--Andy Richardson