Darrell Henderson Gives The Rams Offense Options
In the not too distant past, backing up Todd Gurley meant plenty of quality time on the sideline. But with Gurley’s prognosis still murky, the reason the Rams drafted Darrell Henderson is abundantly clear. The Rams realized they needed to add depth and diversity to the backfield to maintain their stellar offensive reputation.
Early word on Henderson is that his ceiling is high. He has drawn comparisons to Alvin Kamara and Phillip Lindsay. Scouting reports out of the combine pegged him as undersized but with undeniable home run potential and explosive speed. Gil Brandt put him in the top 5 rookie running backs, writing about Henderson “..he has the quickness to hit the hole, the toughness to run through tacklers and the speed to reach the edge. He doesn’t need much room to run and tends to finish forward. He was able to split out wide at times at Memphis, and he showed the ability to make adjustments catching passes out of the backfield.”
It could be Henderson’s excellence within the outside zone that influenced the Rams to draft him. At Memphis, Henderson racked up 23 first downs and 10.7 yards/carry and 7 yards after catch while in the outside zone. The Rams utilized the outside zone more than any team last season. Henderson will feel right at home in LA’s scheme.Gurley’s position atop the depth chart isn’t in jeopardy. Rather the Rams will be looking to Henderson as a “change of pace” back to be used situationally. Sean McVay stated that Henderson has a specific skill set that really can do some unique things offensively. Most likely, he will be used to pick up big chunks of yards or split him in the slot. Henderson has that hybrid run/pass threat of an Alvin Kamara or Christian McCaffery.
The NFL knows what Todd Gurley can do and not many found ways to stop him. Adding Henderson into the mix will allow the Rams to use each back more strategically. Hopefully saving Gurley’s knee from further damage. Not only will Henderson alleviate the pressure on Gurley, his big-play ability will allow the Rams to expand their personnel packages.
Last season, the Rams asked a lot of their starters and the wear and tear showed as the season progressed, namely in significant injuries to Cooper Kupp and Todd Gurley.
McVay recognized Henderson’s potential saying, “One of the things that we’ve talked about is being able to provide some different personnel groupings so that you still focus on making sure that Robert [Woods], Brandin [Cooks], Cooper [Kupp] and Josh [Reynolds] are big parts of our offense. But, you don’t want to ask them to play almost every single snap over the course of a 16-game season and then hopefully after that. Being able to give somebody a chance to come in and provide a different threat is exactly what we identified. He was kind of one of those guys that stood out for us, so we’re excited about getting him here.”
The Los Angeles Coliseum. Photo Credit: Redbird310 | Under Creative Commons License