Why Fantasy Analyst Predicts Rams Will Shake Up Offensive Backfield

Like new vehicles, the Rams have leased their running backs since Sean McVay arrived as head coach in 2017. Every few years, fresh new wheels have arrived in their driveway. But has Kyren Williams finally given them reason for long-term commitment?

Jake Ciely isn’t so sure. A fantasy expert for The Athletic, he considers the Rams a prime candidate to shake up their offensive backfield at some point this year. For the record, McVay and general manager Les Snead have stated their desire to enter into a long-term partnership with Williams as long as they can agree on financial terms, but Ciely remains skeptical.

“Death. Taxes. The Rams draft running backs,” Ciely wrote last week, noting that the organization has drafted one running back in each of the last eight drafts (the only NFL team with that distinction). “So, you could argue that Williams’ role is in jeopardy or that Les Snead and Sean McVay are doing what they always do.”

Williams, 24, became the first Rams player in five years to rush for 1,000 yards when he did it as a second-year player in 2023, posting 1,144 yards. He topped that mark last season with 1,299.

However, Ciely noted that Williams averaged just 4.2 yards per touch, 35th among 37 running backs with at least 150 touches in 2024. He also finished 28th in yards per carry (4.1), the same average as Joe Mixon. Blake Corum enters his second NFL season while rookie Jarquez Hunter joins the fray in 2025.

“The truth is Williams is much like Mixon — reliant on volume for Top 10 value — but that doesn’t mean Hunter or Corum is taking his job without advertising an upgrade in performance,” Ciely wrote.

Before Williams, Todd Gurley was the last Rams player to reach 1,000, doing it in both 2017 and 2018. Gurley also was the last Rams running back to sign a contract extension, inking a four-year, $57.5 million deal prior to that 2018 season. The Rams released him two years later in a salary-cap move.

“If Williams falters early,” Ciely said, “McVay could pull the plug, as he has done before with Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson, but I don’t believe Williams is at risk from Day 1. If anything, how McVay treats his lead running back merely points to Corum and/or Hunter being great bench stashes if Williams gets hurt or loses his grasp on the lead role because of prolonged (multiple games) struggles.”

Truthfully, the better fantasy move with regard to the Rams might be to draft their rookie tight end, Terrance Ferguson.

Other backfields headed for shakeups in 2025, Ciely said, are Jacksonville, New England, the New York Giants, Seattle, Minnesota and Chicago.

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