The Los Angeles Rams have welcomed a revelation into their running attack in Kyren Williams, who has taken the NFL by storm this season.
In his rookie season in 2022, Williams was used sparingly, rushing 35 times for 139 yards and catching nine passes for 76 yards.
However, in 2023, he has clearly emerged as one of the NFL's top rushing threats, Rushing 186 times for 953 yards and eight touchdowns, and catching 30 passes for 192 yards and three more scores. He is also tied for fifth in the NFL with those 11 total scores.
In fact, as of Sunday, Williams has even better than MVP contender Christian McCaffrey - in one area at least.
For context, McCaffrey has been the best running back in the NFL this season by a wide margin, rushing for 1,292 yards - 324 yards more than the next-best back - but he also has 509 yards receiving and has scored a league-high 20 total touchdowns.
So where has Williams been better than McCaffrey? Rushing yards per game, where Williams averages 95.3 yards in his 10 games of action, to McCaffrey's 92.3 in 14 games.
So yes, McCaffrey does retain his title as the NFL's best running back. That said, what Williams has done thus far is nothing short of amazing.
In fact, the three running backs in front of Williams in total yards - McCaffrey, James Cook (968 yards), and Raheem Mostert (966 yards) - have all played a total of 14 games.
“He’s made a lot of plays. He’s made a huge difference,” McVay said of Williams on Sunday. “When he’s in the lineup and when he is not, it’s a very different theme for us. I could say that about a couple of guys, but he has been a big spark plug … I’m really happy for him. I want to just continue to see him make strides, but happy for Kyren and all his success, and it’s been earned.”
That is four more than Williams. And yet, Mostert and Cook barely lead him. It is also not out of the realm of possibility that Williams could very well be nipping at McCaffrey's heels in terms of yardage and touchdowns if he had remained healthy throughout the entire season.
Suffice it to say, the Rams certainly seem to have finally found the star-caliber running back this offense needed.
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