NFL observers received a shock when Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay handed the punt returner duties to starting running back Kyren Williams. No worries, offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said it’s a good idea. And then Williams made it a trifecta by saying he likes the idea, too, according to therams.com.
Oh, boy.
“Being who I am, like you just said, I get to make more plays,” Williams said.
Couldn’t Rams RB Kyren Williams just get more carries?
Apparently the Rams think they need to up his exposure to high-impact collisions. Or maybe he will run out of bounds. Or call for a fair catch if he’s particularly tired.
“I feel like that's just gonna be able to show everybody else what more I can do in this game of football, being able to play a lot of green grass and have a lot of space and get good blocks from my jammers up front, get those punts started,” Williams said. “But I'm excited to just to be able to show another phase of football that I can play.”
Of course, there’s more to it. Perhaps most notably the Rams like backup running back Blake Corum. So regardless of McVay saying, “It's another opportunity for (Williams) to get touches and impact the game,” it’s really more the second half of McVay’s quote that makes sense. He added, “You feel comfortable with that because of the confidence in Blake Corum and Ronnie Rivers being able to spell him if need be.”
So did you catch both ends of that? The Rams want opportunities for Williams to get more touches. In order to accomplish this, they’re going to have him return punts — and limit his touches at running back. Wait. I thought they said he needed more opportunities for touches. Oh, never mind.
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“Anytime you can put the ball in a playmaker's hands, you're going to be happy about it,” LaFleur said.
And so, the Rams roll with Williams as their main punt returner.
So what will the Rams backfield look like. It will still be a lot of Williams, according to Kevin Patra of nfl.com.
“The Rams selected Corum in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft to help take on some of the workload,” Patra wrote. “The bigger takeaway from McVay's comments is that Corum and Rivers would “spell” Williams in the backfield “if need be.” That sort of admission underscores that Williams should see most of the carries.”
