The Los Angeles Rams were a pleasant surprise last season after some expected them to perhaps finish with the worst record in the NFL. They won 10 games, made it to the playoffs and went down to the wire with the NFC North champion Detroit Lions in the wild-card round before losing by one point.
While there are some mild concerns about whether aging quarterback Matthew Stafford can stay healthy (he has missed 10 games in the last two seasons), they do have a number of young studs at various positions. One of them is running back Kyren Williams, who exploded for 1,144 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns in his sophomore campaign.
With fantasy football season getting fully underway, it is time for participants to make their picks and figure out how they will put together their rosters. One may think Williams would be a decent fantasy pick this year based on how high he sprouted last year.
But Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report sounded the alarm for those thinking of taking Williams in their fantasy drafts. He seems to feel Williams would be a poor choice because of his risk of injury.
“There wasn’t a bigger surprise at running back last year than Kyren Williams of the Los Angeles Rams,” wrote Davenport. “Williams went from late-round afterthought or waiver add to league-winner, amassing 1,144 rushing yards, scoring 15 total touchdowns and finishing seventh in PPR points among running backs.
“However, Williams has spent part of both of his NFL seasons on injured reserve. He broke his hand in last year’s playoff loss to the Detroit Lions. He also missed OTAs this offseason with a foot injury.”
Will Kyren Williams be able to stay on the field for the Rams?
Obviously, when a player is injury-prone, he is a huge risk for both his NFL team and those who draft him onto their fantasy teams. Rams head coach Sean McVay admitted that he will have to execute some sort of load management with Williams.
“I think the thing we have to be smart (about) is once we get into the regular season, in terms of the amount of touches. We’ll be smart,” McVay said. “We’re always intentional about what those guys’ workload progressions look like but you don’t get better at football without practicing.
“When I’ve kind of talked about that, what I’m mainly talking about is the amount of carries that he did a great job of being able to handle last year. But if you want to be able to hopefully get an opportunity to play after those 17 games, hopefully stay healthy through those 17, knowing what an instrumental part he is going to be, you want to be smart about that.”
Kyren Williams had 228 carries in 12 games last year, which equates to over 300 in a full season. Historically, when running backs log over 300 carries in a single season, they become more susceptible to injury.
However, if he does remain healthy for most of the 2024 campaign, he could end up being a boon for fantasy teams, as well as for Los Angeles.
After it won seven of its last eight regular-season games last year, expectations are relatively high for L.A. this time around. Perhaps it doesn’t have enough to seriously challenge the San Francisco 49ers for first place in the NFC West, but another playoff appearance could result in an upset of one of the conference’s heavyweights.
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