Last year fantasy owners and NFL viewers alike were blown away by Los Angeles Rams running back, Kyren Williams. That caused expectations about what he could do if he could stay healthy for his entire season, which would be a first for his pro career.
Last season he finished averaging 95 yards per game, the best in the league, and 5 yards per carry, 4th best. This year he has 75 yards per game, 11th, and 3.7 yards per carry, 41st.
Every season is new, so some regression was likely, but this is a dramatic drop-off. One big factor has been injuries to the Rams’ offensive line. This has caused a dramatic shift in one of Williams’s duties — Pass Blocking.
The Stat That Explains Kyren Williams Statistical Drop-Off
Last season, he logged 92 total snaps as a pass blocker. It was a lot compared to most running backs, especially considering he only played 12 games. He finished last season with the most snaps as a pass blocker per game among all at the position.
This year he leads them all by a large margin and he is going to blow away his 2023 number. The next most prolific pass blocker is Zach Charbonnet. He has 24 fewer reps and has also played one extra game. The next closest running back having played just eight games is JK Dobbins — he has 30 fewer pass blocking snaps. Kyren Williams already has 84 pass-blocking snaps; if that trend continues, he will hit 178 reps.
You need to track back almost 20 years to find a running back with that much usage as a blocker. There are very real consequences to this way of playing, the biggest being, that one of the Rams’ top offensive weapons can’t be an offensive weapon on more than 10 downs a game, which with the Rams is about 15 percent of their offensive plays.
Not only that, but it means that they are putting him into more guaranteed high-impact situations. On those plays, he is confronting defenders that at 50 pounds heavier, sometimes more, who are moving at full speed. That is a lot of extra wear and tear on a position that is extremely high on an injury-prone player.
This could be the reason that Blake Corum hasn’t been able to get much playing time in relief of Williams. this was the expressed interest of drafting him in the third round — to take some workload off Williams.
Of course, all this could change now that it seems like the health of the offensive line is trending in the right direction. Center Jonah Jackson and left guard Steve Avila are returning as soon as Monday after stints on the injured reserve.
