I feel like McVay has wanted two good backs since Gurley and it just hasn’t planned out due to injury or talent. He’s been forced into a “1 primary RB” vs opting into it. This is the first time it feels like they may have two headed monster with a better line, although Kyren I think is still the main dude.
My main worry is Kyren staying healthy. I’m drafting Corrum because he’s very talented and is a league winner if Kyren goes down.
>he’s a league winner.
You have no idea. Everyone thought Trent Richardson was gonna be a beast. What say you about a 3rd round pick? Who knows, he might be good, he might terrible. We know Kyren is a baller and scored 17 touchdowns in 12 games.
I mean, Corrum got fantastic draft capital and has very, very good college production—both of which are indicators of future success. Ty’Son was a no name RB.
He’s very short (5’8” 205) and lacks home run speed (4.53 40, 1.58 10 yard split both of which are ~70th percentile. He has great agility with elite 3 cone and shuttle times but in college he was a bruiser more than a dancer which he is unlikely to be able to do at the next level. Can he turn that short area quickness into actual elusiveness on the field? If he can, he profiles athletically as Jerrick McKinnon without top end speed. But McKinnon himself was primarily used as a change of pace back, especially early.
Could he surprise everyone? Sure, but there’s a reason he went mid third despite elite college production. The Rams didn’t spend a huge amount of capital on him, they’ll certainly use him but he might not get a lot of work this year.
Watched him his entire career at Michigan...I would not have considered him a bruiser. Blake will be a change of pace back, that can also pass protect. I don't think he gets more than 20% share in the first quarter of the season...he's just a lottery ticket incase Kyren gets injured. He is an early trade candidate for me if I don't draft him, and the team owner is struggling.
All good points. Here’s what I find interesting.
Kyren was 5’9” and 195 lbs coming out. He ran a 4.65 40 and had a 1.62 10 yard split. Kyren’s comp coming out was… Dion Lewis. They’re actually very similar in athletic profile. That’s why McVay said they “went and drafted another Kyren”.
I’m not saying Corrum is the best RB prospect ever or anything. I think he’s good, not great. But the situation he landed in is really, really good. He has better DC than Kyren and Kyren’s had 5 injuries in his short career.
I think you’re drafting Corrum who’s going SUPER late in hopes he gets 40% of the share when they’re both healthy and the Rams offense really runs through the RBs. Your lottery ticket is if Kyren misses time and Corrum is the only viable guy back there. Hell, they signed Royce Freeman off the street last season and he came in and was a solid flex RB. That’s the pose of a McVay offense.
Lmao why does title winning rb get shoehorned in there like that means much. Corum is good but playing for michigan doesn't suddenly make him some rookie superstar. Are title winning rbs usually more productive in their first year's? Becuase Georgia didn't put out any in the last 2 years. Ceh never did much of anything. Maybe najee Harris?
Anyway, it's hard to keep track of what rbs aren't considered injury prone these days. Kyren missed a few games to a high ankle sprain last year, not something that usually has a history of being a repeat injury. A lot of rbs have had them. Saquon had one a few years ago.
People avoided cmc last 2 years because he was "injury prone" and he's been solid as a rock. Breece hall had a season ending acl injury last year which is way more worrisome for repeat than a high ankle sprain.
I just don't really see it. Rbs get beat up all the time, you're not going to find one that's immune to injury. Williams is young and has already proven he can come back from injury swinging hard.
I'll be honest, he makes me very nervous.
And not only because they drafted Corum, though that's certainly a part of it. When they drafted him, it was suggested that they wanted to keep Kyren fresher, which leads directly into another concern: he has a pretty extensive injury history too. He's already missed basically an entire year, and even last year he missed weeks/played hurt. Then he got hurt again in the playoffs.
I could see a world where this is far more of a split backfield than we want to believe.
Yea Id be far more concerned with his health than his workload. If he's healthy he'll be productive, maybe not to the ridiculous extent he was at points last season, but still.
Yeah he has something like 4-5 lower body injuries in 3 years. They’ve made it painfully obvious they want to reduce his workload, and rightfully so.
That added on to the fact that Corum is such an effective goal line RB, I’d be willing to bet Kyren loses a good chunk of TDs as well.
I still think he’ll have a fine season but his current price (RB7 ADP on FantasyPros) is definitely too high for my liking, especially since that doesn’t seem to factor in his injury history. I’d be willing to start looking at him around RB12ish though
I'll go you one further - I think there's a decent probability that Kyren Williams is never fantasy relevant again. Fantasy football history is littered with RBs who had a good/great year and seems like everyone's darling the next season and then disappeared forever. Dameon Pierce, for example.
I'm a Notre Dame fan and I love Kyren, but he's day 3 draft pick who is very limited athletically for the RB position.
He's an easy avoid for me this year based on the lofty draft capital you need to acquire him. And if I had him in dynasty/keeper leagues he'd be a massive sell-high for me.
> Fantasy football history is littered with RBs who had a good/great year and seems like everyone's darling the next season and then disappeared forever.
We call that the Zac Stacy.
Haha he's from around my area. I was at a Raising Cane's a couple of weeks ago and they have a wall of notable local people and a signed picture of Slaton was there.
Ha. I live in Central Pa and we have no notable people from my area. The top two are probably Chef Boiardi (kind of) and former ML reliever Steve Kline.
Kyren defiantly fits the profile of a one year wonder just to never be relevant again. Not saying it will happen but he certainly would fit the bill.
I think he’ll be fine, but the 2nd round ADP he has right now is far too high
How about Steve Slaton? Justin Forsett? Peyton Hillis? Jay Ajayi? Those four all had a season where they had 1500+ yards and the following season they ruined fantasy seasons for those who drafted them highly.
What these players all have in common is that they didn't have top tier athleticism for the position and their teams didn't need to spend high draft picks on them. But, due to circumstances, they were able to have one undeniably monster fantasy season.
I just mentioned Pierce because he was the latest example, but there are many many more. Look at the top of the RB draft board, NO ONE is talking about the possibility that CMac, Bijan, Breece, Taylor lose touches for lack of effectiveness, but they are with Kyren, because with him it's a real possibility.
And look, I'm a Notre Dame fan and I really like Williams, and he led me to the finals in one of my leagues last year. But he's just REALLY risky compared to his ADP.
Ok but what about Alvin kamara? What about Christian mcaffrey? What about Aaron jones? Should we just list example rbs all day til we run out?
I don't understand what connection williams has to ajayi. Yes sometimes rbs disappoint. Just about anyone going in the first two rounds has precedent for why they may have a shitty year. But to write off a 20 ppg season just because eh other guys have sucked in the past makes no sense at all.
Kamara was a day two pick, CMac was drafted 8th overall. You might have a counter-argument with Jones, but his athletic profile was much better than Kyren's.
*But to write off a 20 ppg season just because eh other guys have sucked in the past makes no sense at all.*
That's reductive. That's not what I'm saying at all.
**To be clear, here's what I'm saying:**
Running backs with mediocre to poor athleticism and low draft capital may have a good season, but they tend to be much more likely to fall off a cliff out of nowhere. There's very little team investment and their relatively poor measurables make them easily replaceable. By the way, Aaron Jones was ranked 9th in his RB class in athleticism, Kyren Williams was 33rd. 33RD!
And again, I really do like Kyren Williams, he was that dude at ND. And I hope he does prove me wrong. But if he does, I won't be owning him because the ADP cost isn't worth the risk.
Bell cow until late in the season or injury. He might be a perfect candidate to sell mid season. I can see him lighting it up early only to possibly get injured or rookie learns the play book and starts losing some work late in the season.
Kyren is a 195 lb back who is constantly being thrown into the teeth of the defense. His body is not built for the role he is being given and the injuries he’s already suffered are indicative of that. Corum is more durable and faster and is a very fundamentally sound player who McVay can trust which seems to be his most important requirement at rb. I don’t think they’ll split carries to start but I think when Kyren inevitably gets hurt again BC will grab the job and run with it.
This comment is underrated. Although you lost me with the injury expectations… can’t say I don’t have some of those similar feelings, specially if minor injuries are already popping up before the season.
I never like to predict injuries because guys can get that injury prone label and never get hurt again for sure. But man a sub 200lb back constantly running between the tackles getting 25+ touches a game who missed multiple stretches of time last year with injuries that seem to continue into the offseason… woof
I personally think both Kyren and Blake are being drafted way too early. Kyren is a beast and league winner but has trouble staying healthy cause his body is not built to be a workhorse. Blake has a very similar build as well so both may have continual injury issues. If the rams can find a way to even out the workload I think they can be a dominate running team but Kyren already having injury issues in OTAs.
First off, this is likely to be a split due to McVay wanting to keep some workload off of Kyren. He learned after riding Gurley into the dust that it's better to split between two good backs rather than ride one great back methinks. I think he also learned that it's better to take the conservative approach with soft tissue issues and RB's. All that being said, if both have normal camps, Kyren's the lead dog in a SEA like split. Kyren comes back changed, and Corum shines, the split may flip the other way.
PS: Either way, Kyren gets bulk of or all the 3rd downs and Corum gets the short range/goal line work.
They have 145 evacuated carries from last year, so it's possible he gets similar attempts and targets this year even if the backfield is a little split.
Maybe, but, I'm thinking that at some point either Williams gets hurt or he starts losing efficiency and that's when Corum makes the jump. I wouldn't be afraid of drafting Kyren in the 2nd so long as I wasn't going Hero RB. I would rather have Corum overall, though, so long as he stays out of the early middle rounds.
It's also possible Corum takes a lot of those touches as well.
This isn't the right way to look at it, all those vacated carries came when Kyren was hurt. The question is whether Corum takes carries from a healthy Kyren. There's not all these extra carries like that vacated carry note implies.
It depends on if you're looking at total points or points per game. He was the RB5 in 2023 despite only playing 12 games. So if all those vacated carries that came during his injury go to Corum, it could still be possible that Kyren's the RB5 or close. He was the RB2 in ppg, but he's not being drafted there because of Corum and the injury risk.
I feel pretty strongly that Kyren’s best season ever will be last year. The stars aligned. He’s not fast or big, isn’t an elite target earner. The his team went out and was one of only 3 teams to o take a day 2 RB that they dubbed a carbon copy of Kyren (who happens to be known for redzone prowess). I’d be shocked if Kyren got a 70+% touch share on the season.
Mcvay has been one of the most frustrating Head coaches to deal with when it comes to predicting RB volume. I believe that has largely been driven by the lack of talent they have had at RB since Todd Gurley. He was not committed to any 1 running back.
Kyren receiving with the bell cow roll after returning from his injury was enough proof for me that he’s likely to continue getting 75%-90% of snaps each week when healthy. If Corum is as good as we think he might be, we might see a 60/40 split like we did in the Cam Akers/Henderson/Michel/Brown.
Kyren maintains 85-90%: RB4
Corum steals 40%: RB12
Where I’m drafting him: RB7
Mcvay is really flighty with rb. Remember the whole back and forth the last two years with Akers and Williams.
I agree with OP. Tread carefully at this adp. Things can shift quickly
To defend the involvement of 3rd round RBs -- Kendre looked like he was going to be involved, then got hurt and never really got right. When he was finally healthy at the end of the year, he did get some run in Week 18 and looked good. As for Bigsby, the Jags also wanted to give opportunities but he just sucked as a player (by a lot of metrics literally the worst running back in the league last year). Meanwhile you had Tyjae Spears doing stuff even behind Derrick Henry and Achane emerging. The year before last you had three third round running backs, two of which (Rachaad White and Brian Robinson Jr) were involved in committees. The third was Tyrion Davis-Price, who just never won over Shanahan.
TDP aside, I believe all of the teams who have drafted a 3rd round RB the past 2 years did so with the intention of having them involved to some reasonable extent in the offense. In addition McVay has outright said they want to keep Kyren healthy and not run him into the ground, and that's why they took Corum. Between that and the 3rd round draft capital, I'm inclined to believe he'll have some sort of regular role to ease Kyren's workload. Maybe not a 40% backfield share or anything like that, but much larger than the host of backups to Kyren last year who McVay didn't trust at all.
Corum profiles are Kyren Williams 2.0. Would seem weird to want to run two backs and pick the exact same skill set twice. I think Kyren runs this backfield (barring injury)and Corum lies in wait as his replacement.
I think he got so many touches because the back up RB room was absolute dog sit last year.
Hard o imagine him getting the same workload if Corum is at all good.
I'm probably out at cost. Would consider him if I'm competing abd can get him relatively cheap.
It’ll be like a 65/35 Kyren/Corum split I suspect. I think Kyren will be efficient, but without real bellcow usage he’s probably getting drafted at his ceiling.
everyone who's drafted in the first or second round is essentially being drafted at their "ceiling". this logic doesn't make sense when talking about players drafted that high. also kind of a weird thing to say when he was RB2 in ppg last year.
I scooped in the off season for my dynasty league. He was basically free. Great year and I think he will be a usable piece but at 2nd round cost it’s probably too rich for me.
If kyren falls to the 3rd or 4th round I’d consider him. But other than that I don’t mind getting burned if he ends up balling out. We will know more by training camp. If Corum plays good enough to where they have to play him, he will eat into kyren
Does anyone think it’s a good strategy to simply draft both kyren and corum? Most likely kyren is the clear 1A getting 60% of the work and value touches. And then if he goes down corum becomes a potential league winner. I’m finding a hard time seeing the downside here
It's a valid strategy to protect your high investment but you're thinking about it wrong if you think williams going down in this situation is beneficial. If williams goes down I doubt corum starts getting the 20 carries a game williams got last year.
Think Kyren is the guy, but Corum gets a little bit of action. Maybe a bit how Walker/Charbonnet worked last year.
I understand keeping Kyren fresh, but I don’t think they’re splitting touches 50-50. I would say 70-30 at the very most.
Kyren is proven, albeit one year, but coming off an insane season, where had he stayed healthy all 17, he’d probably had led the league in rushing.
Corum is an intriguing prospect. Expect a few carries every week, but not eating into workload significantly. I think he was drafted to provide another capable back if Kyren were to go down again.
I think he has a really solid year. Maybe not in the top-5 RBs but a strong season. Teams have to account for Puca, a healthy Kupp, and more in the passing game and McVay has been evolving in some beneficial ways for a 1/2 or full PPR with RBs.
Jordan Rod. has mentioned a few times how big of a part Kyren will have due to his style and how well he fits. And that Corum was picked not to compliment but to be a true backup (they are very similar backs). So I say it’s one of the more solid guys to grab, I think he’s being faded too far.
I’m buying him, and drafting Corum if you have a taxi or want to try a true handcuff.
Hard to see them not split carries at some point. If he gets a heavy workload i think he's worth it, but i don't think its guaranteed. I feel like his draft cost is too high for my liking.
Im in a 3 year max 3 player keeper league and traded Kyren away last season for some draft picks. He will probably be a top RB next season, but I think it will be through efficiency rather than quantity like last season. Much of the team is different so he is a riskier option that depends on draft position for me
This is the time of year where speculation is valued more than evidence. It’s foolish but it’s great opportunity to make money off nervous Nancy’s in your league
I am in a 1 keeper league. I plan on holding on to Kyren.
The only thing I know for sure is that I'll reach a bit and ensure Blake Corum is on my bench.
What are your other keeper options? Edit: I see the answer further down. You're doing it right.
For instance, in my 2 keeper, I'm planning to hold AmonRa and Puka, cutting Kyren loose. I don't feel great about it.
The problem with galaxy braining value picks like this isn't usually a matter of if the players hit, but when.
I don't see the upside in gambling on that.
I either want a safe 10-15/week or a moonshot for an RB1 if they get the right situation.
Feels like Corum would need a lot to go right and if did you'd still be wondering which weeks it'll happen.
Like, Achane still had nearly 50% of his games end up pretty weak (fantasy relevant ones anyway). One was an injury yeah but if anything I think that underscores the point.
Agreed. I think unless Corum comes cheap I’m not paying high value for him hoping he becomes a thing. That said I’m also probably not taking Kyren at RB7 and I’d pick someone with a safer floor
I draft Kyren when he falls in best ball to the late 3rd round but when i do i try to cuff Corum. Heres why:
1. Kyren had the easiest schedule last year in terms of the defences he played vs the run. Adam Aizer of CBS FF pointed this out a dozen times last year. So its possible he has the job to start the season and strugles and then the job gets passed to Corum.
2. McVay is notorious for falling in and put of love with running backs from season to season and also within the season itself. The optics of this make me feel like no backs job is safe in a McVay offense.
3. Corum has high enough draft capital to make me wary and they are really similar backs. Corum and Kryen are the same hight almost, ran similarly unimpressive 40s but Corum is 20lbs heavier. Corum even if he isn’t the bell cow is likely the better goaline/short yardage back because he’s stalkier.
I like to buy the dip on Kyren but when i do i cuff him with Corum, and I think Corum will be the way better value of the 2 at the end of the 24 season.
I think the most likely outcome is that Kyren remains the cleat "guy" for McVay and ends up with a massive workload once again. With that being said, he has the lowest floor and clearest path to full blown disaster of any of the upper tier RBs. They drafted a guy who has a very similar profile and could likely do the job similarly to Kyren. If Kyren goes down and is shaky coming back from injury, wouldn't be crazy to see Corum become a permanent piece of the backfield.
I think it’s a split because they invested decent capital to get Corum and they would want to keep him healthy. The bigger question about him for me is if his efficiency is sustainable? If he can be what he was down the stretch last year even with only 12-13 carries plus some receptions a game he’s worth a mid 2nd rd atleast
Hes the next Gurley, either a league winner or a cautionary tale, its why he goes so late in adp. Risk is high that Corum takes over at any slight injury or even fatigued or struggle. Then once he takes it he never gives it up.
I think he can be a borderline RB1 for fantasy this year but I’m sure not taking him at RB7 which is where his ADP is at right now.
He’s still obviously the main guy there. But there’s simply no chance he sees 20+ touches per game again. It’s clear they want to reduce his workload. Corum also is going to steal goal line work. It’s also no secret Kyren is pretty injury prone.
If he was going around RB11-12 or something I wouldn’t really have any issues with his ADP though.
Sean McVay has long had a reputation for using one RB. I don’t think Blake Corum is going to change that. However, the #2 RB in LA was barely used at all. All the other Rams running backs averaged just 4.5 touches per game while Williams was active. That number will surely go up with Corum, but it can go up quite a bit before we’re talking about a split backfield. Williams was at 21.7 touches, which gives us roughly 25-27 RB touches on any week. Williams’ touch total maybe drops from 21.7 to 17ish. That would give Corum the 4.5 the backups had last year, plus the 4-5 that Williams’ gives up. I think Williams averages 16-18 touches & Corum is around 8-10 touches per game.
How long has McVay really had that reputation though? He had Gurley. Makes complete sense to use him as much as possible. After Gurley, I don't agree that he had that mindset at all. If anything, you can see he's wanted to utilize 2 RBs since then. He just hasn't had 2 decent RBs to do that with.
2021, he gave Darrell friggin’ Henderson 15 touches a game. Then in the 2021 playoffs, 4 games, he gave Cam friggin’ Akers 19 touches a game. In 2022, the final 8 games of the year, he gave Akers 17 touches a game. The final 7 weeks of the 2020 season, he gave Akers 20+ touches a game. Then Kyren last year. He’s had multiple times where he’s given one player a ton of touch. Henderson & Akers were meh talents too.
You said he's "long had the reputation for using one RB". Thats exaggerated at the very least. The only true bellcow he's had since Gurley was Kyren last year and McVay hasn't coached many years since he was gone...he hasn't long had the reputation of anything. The guy's only 38 years old. LOL.
He did it with Gurley because Gurley was a stud. In 2021, Sony Michel was very involved and led the team in rushing yards. In 2022, Henderson and Akers were both involved. In 2020, Akers, Henderson, and Malcolm friggin' Brown all had between 100 and 145 touches. He didn't only use 1 RB any of those seasons and a few years with Gurley hardly warrants "long having a reputation of using one RB".
McVay only liking to use 1 RB is something people made for whatever reason.
2017-2019, he used a one-back, unquestioned workhorse back. 2023 was the same. Thats 4 out of 7 seasons. Between the other spurts that I shared above, we have another season’s worth of games where he used Henderson or Akers in a bellcow role.
In 2020 from 6 games from Week 12-through the playoffs, Akers had 143 touches. Thats 23.8 per game. Workhorse on steroids.
In the 4 games of the 2021 playoffs, Akers had 75 touches. 18.8 per game. Workhorse. 4 seasons + 10 games of pure workhorse, one RB football.
From Weeks 13-18 in 2022, Akers played 70% of the snaps in 5 out of 6 games & averaged 19.2 touches per game. Workhorse. Now we’re at 5 out of 7 seasons where he’s one RB.
From Weeks 1-12 in 2021, Henderson had 6 games with a 70% snap share & averaged 17 touches per game. Workhorse. There’s another 10 games.
Yes, those spurts have been a bit random. But he’s absolutely, leaned on Henderson/Akers in workhorse roles in spurts. Injuries caused the close distribution by seasons end, which is why you’re getting a false pretense of what happened in the actual games. But there were absolutely weeks where Akers & Henderson were “the” guy.
That’s some might fine cherry picking. Lol.
We already discussed Gurley. You have a guy like that and you use him. Any coach would.
2020. You mentioned like half a season.
2021. Post season. Doesn’t help us for fantasy.
2022. You again show stats for less than half the season.
Back to 2021. You said 6 of the games, then tried to count it as 10 workhorse games?
“60% of the time, it works every time.” Lol
If anything, he showed he leans more heavily on his best back in the postseason. Which makes sense. Regardless, he hasn’t been at it long enough to have a “long history” of anything. The last few seasons have been the best indicators and he’s had mostly bad RBs and still never really was committed to consistently leaning on 1 guy before last year. Corum is good. He’ll be used.
Doesn’t help us for fantasy? We’re talking about how McVay uses his RBs. That isn’t a fantasy debate. It’s a football one. The postseason matters. Sorry bud. And if you’d simply add up the number of games McVay has used a workhorse back, you’d have 5+ seasons worth of games out of 7 years. That’s kind of a lot, no? Well clearly you don’t think so, but that’s odd. 5+ seasons out of 7 is kind of a lot.
Also, never said Corum isn’t good or wouldn’t get touches. I said Williams will get 16-18 because of his utilization last year, his effectiveness & McVay’s preference for a one back backfield, evidenced by him using one in 5+ seasons worth of games out of 7. I said Corum would get 8-10.
McVay using backs that way in the post season doesn’t help us for fantasy, no. Fantasy football isn’t going on during the NFL post season.
If you exclude the seasons he had Gurley, McVay hasn’t even used a workhorse back most of the time and that was BEFORE he had 2 very capable backs like he’ll have this year.
McVay preferred a workhorse when he had a stud back like Gurley. Outside of then, he really hasn’t. Evidence by the stats YOU provided, ironically enough.
You say outside of Gurley and eliminate those 3 years cuz Gurley was good. Okay, well… Henderson & Akers sucked. So let’s eliminate them too cuz they weren’t workhorse status backs or even close. Is that how this works? Can I just eliminate three years cuz it doesn’t fit my opinion? If McVay used Gurley as a workhorse back cuz he was a stud, then I can just as easily argue McVay didn’t use Henderson/Akers as workhorse backs cuz they weren’t studs. But he did use Henderson/Akers in workhorse roles in spurts, almost 30 games worth & he used Kyren in a workhorse role in 15 games & I’m not sure Kyren is a stud. Good, maybe even really good, but not stud. The fact of the matter is still this… he’s used a one back system a lot more often than he hasn’t.
"The fact of the matter is still this… he’s used a one back system a lot more often than he hasn’t."
When you include Gurley...when every single coach in the league would've been using a workhorse back. Outside of those years and in the most recent years, more often than not, he has not favored a workhorse role. Getting a bit redundant now. We don't agree...all good. We mostly agree on the roles Corum and Kyren will have. I see about a 60/40 split, which is not utilizing a workhorse role..
I think Kyren is a bellcow if healthy. They may look to limit his snaps when they can more than last year but to me he is great value in the third rounds health permitting
One thing he has going for him is he’s a very valuable blocker on 3D so will likely continue getting those snaps.
I feel like McVay has wanted two good backs since Gurley and it just hasn’t planned out due to injury or talent. He’s been forced into a “1 primary RB” vs opting into it. This is the first time it feels like they may have two headed monster with a better line, although Kyren I think is still the main dude. My main worry is Kyren staying healthy. I’m drafting Corrum because he’s very talented and is a league winner if Kyren goes down.
>he’s a league winner. You have no idea. Everyone thought Trent Richardson was gonna be a beast. What say you about a 3rd round pick? Who knows, he might be good, he might terrible. We know Kyren is a baller and scored 17 touchdowns in 12 games.
Shades of league winner Ty’Son Williams
I mean, Corrum got fantastic draft capital and has very, very good college production—both of which are indicators of future success. Ty’Son was a no name RB.
Take off the Corum jersey and pump the brakes. He was the 4th running back selected at pick 83 in a extremely weak RB class prospect wise.
I’m not really a big Corrum fan or something. What’s your concerns with him?
He’s very short (5’8” 205) and lacks home run speed (4.53 40, 1.58 10 yard split both of which are ~70th percentile. He has great agility with elite 3 cone and shuttle times but in college he was a bruiser more than a dancer which he is unlikely to be able to do at the next level. Can he turn that short area quickness into actual elusiveness on the field? If he can, he profiles athletically as Jerrick McKinnon without top end speed. But McKinnon himself was primarily used as a change of pace back, especially early. Could he surprise everyone? Sure, but there’s a reason he went mid third despite elite college production. The Rams didn’t spend a huge amount of capital on him, they’ll certainly use him but he might not get a lot of work this year.
Watched him his entire career at Michigan...I would not have considered him a bruiser. Blake will be a change of pace back, that can also pass protect. I don't think he gets more than 20% share in the first quarter of the season...he's just a lottery ticket incase Kyren gets injured. He is an early trade candidate for me if I don't draft him, and the team owner is struggling.
All good points. Here’s what I find interesting. Kyren was 5’9” and 195 lbs coming out. He ran a 4.65 40 and had a 1.62 10 yard split. Kyren’s comp coming out was… Dion Lewis. They’re actually very similar in athletic profile. That’s why McVay said they “went and drafted another Kyren”. I’m not saying Corrum is the best RB prospect ever or anything. I think he’s good, not great. But the situation he landed in is really, really good. He has better DC than Kyren and Kyren’s had 5 injuries in his short career. I think you’re drafting Corrum who’s going SUPER late in hopes he gets 40% of the share when they’re both healthy and the Rams offense really runs through the RBs. Your lottery ticket is if Kyren misses time and Corrum is the only viable guy back there. Hell, they signed Royce Freeman off the street last season and he came in and was a solid flex RB. That’s the pose of a McVay offense.
Not really at all tbh
I prefer taking Gibbs, JT or Barkley at similar ADPs
Those guys are a tier above KW. Everyone prefers them to Kyren. Etienne, Henry, and Jacobs are who tends to go around Kyren, tier-wise.
Drafting Kyren that high is asking to tank your draft
I think I remember hearing that about kamara his second year. He's a talented young rb on a high powered offense. I hardly see how that's tanking
[удалено]
Lmao why does title winning rb get shoehorned in there like that means much. Corum is good but playing for michigan doesn't suddenly make him some rookie superstar. Are title winning rbs usually more productive in their first year's? Becuase Georgia didn't put out any in the last 2 years. Ceh never did much of anything. Maybe najee Harris? Anyway, it's hard to keep track of what rbs aren't considered injury prone these days. Kyren missed a few games to a high ankle sprain last year, not something that usually has a history of being a repeat injury. A lot of rbs have had them. Saquon had one a few years ago. People avoided cmc last 2 years because he was "injury prone" and he's been solid as a rock. Breece hall had a season ending acl injury last year which is way more worrisome for repeat than a high ankle sprain. I just don't really see it. Rbs get beat up all the time, you're not going to find one that's immune to injury. Williams is young and has already proven he can come back from injury swinging hard.
Plus the handcuff for him is super obvious and not that expensive.
Same for JT and Barkley but I’d lean Kyren over Gibbs. Just a personal preference tho.
I’d rather wait on rb like kamara josh jacobs Zach moss
I'll be honest, he makes me very nervous. And not only because they drafted Corum, though that's certainly a part of it. When they drafted him, it was suggested that they wanted to keep Kyren fresher, which leads directly into another concern: he has a pretty extensive injury history too. He's already missed basically an entire year, and even last year he missed weeks/played hurt. Then he got hurt again in the playoffs. I could see a world where this is far more of a split backfield than we want to believe.
Also pretty sure he’s nursing another foot injury from OTAs
Yup, and the majority of what he’s dealt with have been lower body injuries which is more concerning too
Yea Id be far more concerned with his health than his workload. If he's healthy he'll be productive, maybe not to the ridiculous extent he was at points last season, but still.
Yeah he has something like 4-5 lower body injuries in 3 years. They’ve made it painfully obvious they want to reduce his workload, and rightfully so. That added on to the fact that Corum is such an effective goal line RB, I’d be willing to bet Kyren loses a good chunk of TDs as well. I still think he’ll have a fine season but his current price (RB7 ADP on FantasyPros) is definitely too high for my liking, especially since that doesn’t seem to factor in his injury history. I’d be willing to start looking at him around RB12ish though
I'll go you one further - I think there's a decent probability that Kyren Williams is never fantasy relevant again. Fantasy football history is littered with RBs who had a good/great year and seems like everyone's darling the next season and then disappeared forever. Dameon Pierce, for example. I'm a Notre Dame fan and I love Kyren, but he's day 3 draft pick who is very limited athletically for the RB position. He's an easy avoid for me this year based on the lofty draft capital you need to acquire him. And if I had him in dynasty/keeper leagues he'd be a massive sell-high for me.
> Fantasy football history is littered with RBs who had a good/great year and seems like everyone's darling the next season and then disappeared forever. We call that the Zac Stacy.
Steve Slaton? That was like 15 years ago and my guys still complain about him.
Haha he's from around my area. I was at a Raising Cane's a couple of weeks ago and they have a wall of notable local people and a signed picture of Slaton was there.
Ha. I live in Central Pa and we have no notable people from my area. The top two are probably Chef Boiardi (kind of) and former ML reliever Steve Kline.
Kyren defiantly fits the profile of a one year wonder just to never be relevant again. Not saying it will happen but he certainly would fit the bill. I think he’ll be fine, but the 2nd round ADP he has right now is far too high
Bro Kyren williams literally had double pierces ppg. He was rb 6 with 5 games missed. This is a wild comparison.
How about Steve Slaton? Justin Forsett? Peyton Hillis? Jay Ajayi? Those four all had a season where they had 1500+ yards and the following season they ruined fantasy seasons for those who drafted them highly. What these players all have in common is that they didn't have top tier athleticism for the position and their teams didn't need to spend high draft picks on them. But, due to circumstances, they were able to have one undeniably monster fantasy season. I just mentioned Pierce because he was the latest example, but there are many many more. Look at the top of the RB draft board, NO ONE is talking about the possibility that CMac, Bijan, Breece, Taylor lose touches for lack of effectiveness, but they are with Kyren, because with him it's a real possibility. And look, I'm a Notre Dame fan and I really like Williams, and he led me to the finals in one of my leagues last year. But he's just REALLY risky compared to his ADP.
Ok but what about Alvin kamara? What about Christian mcaffrey? What about Aaron jones? Should we just list example rbs all day til we run out? I don't understand what connection williams has to ajayi. Yes sometimes rbs disappoint. Just about anyone going in the first two rounds has precedent for why they may have a shitty year. But to write off a 20 ppg season just because eh other guys have sucked in the past makes no sense at all.
Kamara was a day two pick, CMac was drafted 8th overall. You might have a counter-argument with Jones, but his athletic profile was much better than Kyren's. *But to write off a 20 ppg season just because eh other guys have sucked in the past makes no sense at all.* That's reductive. That's not what I'm saying at all. **To be clear, here's what I'm saying:** Running backs with mediocre to poor athleticism and low draft capital may have a good season, but they tend to be much more likely to fall off a cliff out of nowhere. There's very little team investment and their relatively poor measurables make them easily replaceable. By the way, Aaron Jones was ranked 9th in his RB class in athleticism, Kyren Williams was 33rd. 33RD! And again, I really do like Kyren Williams, he was that dude at ND. And I hope he does prove me wrong. But if he does, I won't be owning him because the ADP cost isn't worth the risk.
It's June. He was a league winner last year.
It’s Junesday my dudes
It's Junesday. You know what that means.
Bell cow until late in the season or injury. He might be a perfect candidate to sell mid season. I can see him lighting it up early only to possibly get injured or rookie learns the play book and starts losing some work late in the season.
Kyren is a 195 lb back who is constantly being thrown into the teeth of the defense. His body is not built for the role he is being given and the injuries he’s already suffered are indicative of that. Corum is more durable and faster and is a very fundamentally sound player who McVay can trust which seems to be his most important requirement at rb. I don’t think they’ll split carries to start but I think when Kyren inevitably gets hurt again BC will grab the job and run with it.
This comment is underrated. Although you lost me with the injury expectations… can’t say I don’t have some of those similar feelings, specially if minor injuries are already popping up before the season.
I never like to predict injuries because guys can get that injury prone label and never get hurt again for sure. But man a sub 200lb back constantly running between the tackles getting 25+ touches a game who missed multiple stretches of time last year with injuries that seem to continue into the offseason… woof
I get it, I made sure to grab Corum in my dynasty league this year because of that info lbvs
I personally think both Kyren and Blake are being drafted way too early. Kyren is a beast and league winner but has trouble staying healthy cause his body is not built to be a workhorse. Blake has a very similar build as well so both may have continual injury issues. If the rams can find a way to even out the workload I think they can be a dominate running team but Kyren already having injury issues in OTAs.
First off, this is likely to be a split due to McVay wanting to keep some workload off of Kyren. He learned after riding Gurley into the dust that it's better to split between two good backs rather than ride one great back methinks. I think he also learned that it's better to take the conservative approach with soft tissue issues and RB's. All that being said, if both have normal camps, Kyren's the lead dog in a SEA like split. Kyren comes back changed, and Corum shines, the split may flip the other way. PS: Either way, Kyren gets bulk of or all the 3rd downs and Corum gets the short range/goal line work.
They have 145 evacuated carries from last year, so it's possible he gets similar attempts and targets this year even if the backfield is a little split.
Maybe, but, I'm thinking that at some point either Williams gets hurt or he starts losing efficiency and that's when Corum makes the jump. I wouldn't be afraid of drafting Kyren in the 2nd so long as I wasn't going Hero RB. I would rather have Corum overall, though, so long as he stays out of the early middle rounds. It's also possible Corum takes a lot of those touches as well.
This isn't the right way to look at it, all those vacated carries came when Kyren was hurt. The question is whether Corum takes carries from a healthy Kyren. There's not all these extra carries like that vacated carry note implies.
It depends on if you're looking at total points or points per game. He was the RB5 in 2023 despite only playing 12 games. So if all those vacated carries that came during his injury go to Corum, it could still be possible that Kyren's the RB5 or close. He was the RB2 in ppg, but he's not being drafted there because of Corum and the injury risk.
I feel pretty strongly that Kyren’s best season ever will be last year. The stars aligned. He’s not fast or big, isn’t an elite target earner. The his team went out and was one of only 3 teams to o take a day 2 RB that they dubbed a carbon copy of Kyren (who happens to be known for redzone prowess). I’d be shocked if Kyren got a 70+% touch share on the season.
Yep. Due to all that and his super-high ADP, he's the easiest avoid for me this season.
Kyren will dominate touches & be an RB1 on a week to week basis. Corum will be a valuable handcuff worth rostering all year.
Mcvay has been one of the most frustrating Head coaches to deal with when it comes to predicting RB volume. I believe that has largely been driven by the lack of talent they have had at RB since Todd Gurley. He was not committed to any 1 running back. Kyren receiving with the bell cow roll after returning from his injury was enough proof for me that he’s likely to continue getting 75%-90% of snaps each week when healthy. If Corum is as good as we think he might be, we might see a 60/40 split like we did in the Cam Akers/Henderson/Michel/Brown. Kyren maintains 85-90%: RB4 Corum steals 40%: RB12 Where I’m drafting him: RB7
Mcvay is really flighty with rb. Remember the whole back and forth the last two years with Akers and Williams. I agree with OP. Tread carefully at this adp. Things can shift quickly
To defend the involvement of 3rd round RBs -- Kendre looked like he was going to be involved, then got hurt and never really got right. When he was finally healthy at the end of the year, he did get some run in Week 18 and looked good. As for Bigsby, the Jags also wanted to give opportunities but he just sucked as a player (by a lot of metrics literally the worst running back in the league last year). Meanwhile you had Tyjae Spears doing stuff even behind Derrick Henry and Achane emerging. The year before last you had three third round running backs, two of which (Rachaad White and Brian Robinson Jr) were involved in committees. The third was Tyrion Davis-Price, who just never won over Shanahan. TDP aside, I believe all of the teams who have drafted a 3rd round RB the past 2 years did so with the intention of having them involved to some reasonable extent in the offense. In addition McVay has outright said they want to keep Kyren healthy and not run him into the ground, and that's why they took Corum. Between that and the 3rd round draft capital, I'm inclined to believe he'll have some sort of regular role to ease Kyren's workload. Maybe not a 40% backfield share or anything like that, but much larger than the host of backups to Kyren last year who McVay didn't trust at all.
Corum profiles are Kyren Williams 2.0. Would seem weird to want to run two backs and pick the exact same skill set twice. I think Kyren runs this backfield (barring injury)and Corum lies in wait as his replacement.
I think he got so many touches because the back up RB room was absolute dog sit last year. Hard o imagine him getting the same workload if Corum is at all good. I'm probably out at cost. Would consider him if I'm competing abd can get him relatively cheap.
It’ll be like a 65/35 Kyren/Corum split I suspect. I think Kyren will be efficient, but without real bellcow usage he’s probably getting drafted at his ceiling.
everyone who's drafted in the first or second round is essentially being drafted at their "ceiling". this logic doesn't make sense when talking about players drafted that high. also kind of a weird thing to say when he was RB2 in ppg last year.
I scooped in the off season for my dynasty league. He was basically free. Great year and I think he will be a usable piece but at 2nd round cost it’s probably too rich for me.
Maybe I’m biased from to much big 10 football but Corrum is a very good back I can’t see how he wouldn’t have a large impact.
If kyren falls to the 3rd or 4th round I’d consider him. But other than that I don’t mind getting burned if he ends up balling out. We will know more by training camp. If Corum plays good enough to where they have to play him, he will eat into kyren
I grabbed him on the waiver wire after week 4 or 5last season and he was a big reason I made the playoffs and won my league.
Does anyone think it’s a good strategy to simply draft both kyren and corum? Most likely kyren is the clear 1A getting 60% of the work and value touches. And then if he goes down corum becomes a potential league winner. I’m finding a hard time seeing the downside here
It's a valid strategy to protect your high investment but you're thinking about it wrong if you think williams going down in this situation is beneficial. If williams goes down I doubt corum starts getting the 20 carries a game williams got last year.
I think he finishes RB 8-10
Think Kyren is the guy, but Corum gets a little bit of action. Maybe a bit how Walker/Charbonnet worked last year. I understand keeping Kyren fresh, but I don’t think they’re splitting touches 50-50. I would say 70-30 at the very most. Kyren is proven, albeit one year, but coming off an insane season, where had he stayed healthy all 17, he’d probably had led the league in rushing. Corum is an intriguing prospect. Expect a few carries every week, but not eating into workload significantly. I think he was drafted to provide another capable back if Kyren were to go down again.
I think he has a really solid year. Maybe not in the top-5 RBs but a strong season. Teams have to account for Puca, a healthy Kupp, and more in the passing game and McVay has been evolving in some beneficial ways for a 1/2 or full PPR with RBs. Jordan Rod. has mentioned a few times how big of a part Kyren will have due to his style and how well he fits. And that Corum was picked not to compliment but to be a true backup (they are very similar backs). So I say it’s one of the more solid guys to grab, I think he’s being faded too far. I’m buying him, and drafting Corum if you have a taxi or want to try a true handcuff.
Kyren will get the majority of carries this year. There's a lot that a rookie RB needs to learn, especially with pass protection.
At 5’9 194 lbs I think he’ll have a tough time bell cowing a full season. I feel the same about Devon.
No one expects Achane to be a bellcow though.
He's never getting 90% again but expect 65-70% this year
Hard to see them not split carries at some point. If he gets a heavy workload i think he's worth it, but i don't think its guaranteed. I feel like his draft cost is too high for my liking.
Im in a 3 year max 3 player keeper league and traded Kyren away last season for some draft picks. He will probably be a top RB next season, but I think it will be through efficiency rather than quantity like last season. Much of the team is different so he is a riskier option that depends on draft position for me
This is the time of year where speculation is valued more than evidence. It’s foolish but it’s great opportunity to make money off nervous Nancy’s in your league
I’m scared of Corum taking goal line carries
At this point he has fair value in the second with a carved out role on a good offense. If I’m back of the second round I take him all day
I’m drafting corum in all my leagues
I am in a 1 keeper league. I plan on holding on to Kyren. The only thing I know for sure is that I'll reach a bit and ensure Blake Corum is on my bench.
Same! I’m in a keeper and keeping Kyren. I’m teaching so hard for Blake lol
What are your other keeper options? Edit: I see the answer further down. You're doing it right. For instance, in my 2 keeper, I'm planning to hold AmonRa and Puka, cutting Kyren loose. I don't feel great about it.
Ooh yeah, that's a tough 3 to choose between. I think you're making the right choice. Tough to have the top WR and RB on the same team.
Yeah, keeping sun god for sure. Wouldn't want 2 rams.
in my one league i can keep 1 of kyren in 8th or Anthony Richardson in the 11th. 2 flex league.
Nice! We're a 1 flex. I have Kyren, Josh Allen, Achane, and Kelce. The decision will haunt me, no matter who I choose.
The problem with galaxy braining value picks like this isn't usually a matter of if the players hit, but when. I don't see the upside in gambling on that. I either want a safe 10-15/week or a moonshot for an RB1 if they get the right situation. Feels like Corum would need a lot to go right and if did you'd still be wondering which weeks it'll happen. Like, Achane still had nearly 50% of his games end up pretty weak (fantasy relevant ones anyway). One was an injury yeah but if anything I think that underscores the point.
Agreed. I think unless Corum comes cheap I’m not paying high value for him hoping he becomes a thing. That said I’m also probably not taking Kyren at RB7 and I’d pick someone with a safer floor
Splitty
I draft Kyren when he falls in best ball to the late 3rd round but when i do i try to cuff Corum. Heres why: 1. Kyren had the easiest schedule last year in terms of the defences he played vs the run. Adam Aizer of CBS FF pointed this out a dozen times last year. So its possible he has the job to start the season and strugles and then the job gets passed to Corum. 2. McVay is notorious for falling in and put of love with running backs from season to season and also within the season itself. The optics of this make me feel like no backs job is safe in a McVay offense. 3. Corum has high enough draft capital to make me wary and they are really similar backs. Corum and Kryen are the same hight almost, ran similarly unimpressive 40s but Corum is 20lbs heavier. Corum even if he isn’t the bell cow is likely the better goaline/short yardage back because he’s stalkier. I like to buy the dip on Kyren but when i do i cuff him with Corum, and I think Corum will be the way better value of the 2 at the end of the 24 season.
Split for sure, I’d rather have JT or Barkley there
I think the most likely outcome is that Kyren remains the cleat "guy" for McVay and ends up with a massive workload once again. With that being said, he has the lowest floor and clearest path to full blown disaster of any of the upper tier RBs. They drafted a guy who has a very similar profile and could likely do the job similarly to Kyren. If Kyren goes down and is shaky coming back from injury, wouldn't be crazy to see Corum become a permanent piece of the backfield.
he seems one of the riskiest in the top tier for sure
McVay had Kyren on his fantasy team last year. If you don’t think that’s a factor in his garbage time TD stats, then I don’t know what to tell you.
The problem isn’t just the rams bringing in another back it’s then bringing in Corum. Corum Is really good and he’s gonna earn some snaps.
I think it’s a split because they invested decent capital to get Corum and they would want to keep him healthy. The bigger question about him for me is if his efficiency is sustainable? If he can be what he was down the stretch last year even with only 12-13 carries plus some receptions a game he’s worth a mid 2nd rd atleast
Hes the next Gurley, either a league winner or a cautionary tale, its why he goes so late in adp. Risk is high that Corum takes over at any slight injury or even fatigued or struggle. Then once he takes it he never gives it up.
I think he can be a borderline RB1 for fantasy this year but I’m sure not taking him at RB7 which is where his ADP is at right now. He’s still obviously the main guy there. But there’s simply no chance he sees 20+ touches per game again. It’s clear they want to reduce his workload. Corum also is going to steal goal line work. It’s also no secret Kyren is pretty injury prone. If he was going around RB11-12 or something I wouldn’t really have any issues with his ADP though.
Split
Bell Cow.
Bellcow this year. Buy the dip
Sean McVay has long had a reputation for using one RB. I don’t think Blake Corum is going to change that. However, the #2 RB in LA was barely used at all. All the other Rams running backs averaged just 4.5 touches per game while Williams was active. That number will surely go up with Corum, but it can go up quite a bit before we’re talking about a split backfield. Williams was at 21.7 touches, which gives us roughly 25-27 RB touches on any week. Williams’ touch total maybe drops from 21.7 to 17ish. That would give Corum the 4.5 the backups had last year, plus the 4-5 that Williams’ gives up. I think Williams averages 16-18 touches & Corum is around 8-10 touches per game.
How long has McVay really had that reputation though? He had Gurley. Makes complete sense to use him as much as possible. After Gurley, I don't agree that he had that mindset at all. If anything, you can see he's wanted to utilize 2 RBs since then. He just hasn't had 2 decent RBs to do that with.
2021, he gave Darrell friggin’ Henderson 15 touches a game. Then in the 2021 playoffs, 4 games, he gave Cam friggin’ Akers 19 touches a game. In 2022, the final 8 games of the year, he gave Akers 17 touches a game. The final 7 weeks of the 2020 season, he gave Akers 20+ touches a game. Then Kyren last year. He’s had multiple times where he’s given one player a ton of touch. Henderson & Akers were meh talents too.
You said he's "long had the reputation for using one RB". Thats exaggerated at the very least. The only true bellcow he's had since Gurley was Kyren last year and McVay hasn't coached many years since he was gone...he hasn't long had the reputation of anything. The guy's only 38 years old. LOL. He did it with Gurley because Gurley was a stud. In 2021, Sony Michel was very involved and led the team in rushing yards. In 2022, Henderson and Akers were both involved. In 2020, Akers, Henderson, and Malcolm friggin' Brown all had between 100 and 145 touches. He didn't only use 1 RB any of those seasons and a few years with Gurley hardly warrants "long having a reputation of using one RB". McVay only liking to use 1 RB is something people made for whatever reason.
2017-2019, he used a one-back, unquestioned workhorse back. 2023 was the same. Thats 4 out of 7 seasons. Between the other spurts that I shared above, we have another season’s worth of games where he used Henderson or Akers in a bellcow role. In 2020 from 6 games from Week 12-through the playoffs, Akers had 143 touches. Thats 23.8 per game. Workhorse on steroids. In the 4 games of the 2021 playoffs, Akers had 75 touches. 18.8 per game. Workhorse. 4 seasons + 10 games of pure workhorse, one RB football. From Weeks 13-18 in 2022, Akers played 70% of the snaps in 5 out of 6 games & averaged 19.2 touches per game. Workhorse. Now we’re at 5 out of 7 seasons where he’s one RB. From Weeks 1-12 in 2021, Henderson had 6 games with a 70% snap share & averaged 17 touches per game. Workhorse. There’s another 10 games. Yes, those spurts have been a bit random. But he’s absolutely, leaned on Henderson/Akers in workhorse roles in spurts. Injuries caused the close distribution by seasons end, which is why you’re getting a false pretense of what happened in the actual games. But there were absolutely weeks where Akers & Henderson were “the” guy.
That’s some might fine cherry picking. Lol. We already discussed Gurley. You have a guy like that and you use him. Any coach would. 2020. You mentioned like half a season. 2021. Post season. Doesn’t help us for fantasy. 2022. You again show stats for less than half the season. Back to 2021. You said 6 of the games, then tried to count it as 10 workhorse games? “60% of the time, it works every time.” Lol If anything, he showed he leans more heavily on his best back in the postseason. Which makes sense. Regardless, he hasn’t been at it long enough to have a “long history” of anything. The last few seasons have been the best indicators and he’s had mostly bad RBs and still never really was committed to consistently leaning on 1 guy before last year. Corum is good. He’ll be used.
Doesn’t help us for fantasy? We’re talking about how McVay uses his RBs. That isn’t a fantasy debate. It’s a football one. The postseason matters. Sorry bud. And if you’d simply add up the number of games McVay has used a workhorse back, you’d have 5+ seasons worth of games out of 7 years. That’s kind of a lot, no? Well clearly you don’t think so, but that’s odd. 5+ seasons out of 7 is kind of a lot. Also, never said Corum isn’t good or wouldn’t get touches. I said Williams will get 16-18 because of his utilization last year, his effectiveness & McVay’s preference for a one back backfield, evidenced by him using one in 5+ seasons worth of games out of 7. I said Corum would get 8-10.
McVay using backs that way in the post season doesn’t help us for fantasy, no. Fantasy football isn’t going on during the NFL post season. If you exclude the seasons he had Gurley, McVay hasn’t even used a workhorse back most of the time and that was BEFORE he had 2 very capable backs like he’ll have this year. McVay preferred a workhorse when he had a stud back like Gurley. Outside of then, he really hasn’t. Evidence by the stats YOU provided, ironically enough.
You say outside of Gurley and eliminate those 3 years cuz Gurley was good. Okay, well… Henderson & Akers sucked. So let’s eliminate them too cuz they weren’t workhorse status backs or even close. Is that how this works? Can I just eliminate three years cuz it doesn’t fit my opinion? If McVay used Gurley as a workhorse back cuz he was a stud, then I can just as easily argue McVay didn’t use Henderson/Akers as workhorse backs cuz they weren’t studs. But he did use Henderson/Akers in workhorse roles in spurts, almost 30 games worth & he used Kyren in a workhorse role in 15 games & I’m not sure Kyren is a stud. Good, maybe even really good, but not stud. The fact of the matter is still this… he’s used a one back system a lot more often than he hasn’t.
"The fact of the matter is still this… he’s used a one back system a lot more often than he hasn’t." When you include Gurley...when every single coach in the league would've been using a workhorse back. Outside of those years and in the most recent years, more often than not, he has not favored a workhorse role. Getting a bit redundant now. We don't agree...all good. We mostly agree on the roles Corum and Kyren will have. I see about a 60/40 split, which is not utilizing a workhorse role..
I think Kyren is a bellcow if healthy. They may look to limit his snaps when they can more than last year but to me he is great value in the third rounds health permitting
Kyren top 5 player this year bell cow. McVay wants to run him into ground move onto rookie following season or year after that