Over the offseason, the Los Angeles Rams made the decision to extend running back Kyren Williams to a three-year, $33 million extension with $15 million guaranteed. In average per year, it made Williams the eighth-highest paid running back in the NFL with the seventh-most guaranteed money for a running back.
At the time, there were questions about whether or not the Rams were doing the right thing. This is a running back that had the third-most fumbles with five while being one of the least explosive and least creative players at the position. He ranked 30th out of 31 qualifying running backs in explosive run rate and 27th in missed tackles forced per attempt. However, he kept the offense on track, ranking fifth in success rate.
On Thursday night against a division rival in the San Francisco 49ers, Williams’ fumble at the one yard line while trying to win the game was a major contributor in the loss.
To put it simply, Williams is fine and he does a lot of things well. However, it was always fair to question whether or not he’s the all-around running back worth giving an extension to. Williams is a singles hitter and rarely gets more than what’s available. He’s had fumbling issues and has struggled with break away speed going back to college at Notre Dame. It’s simply who he is. That’s who he’s been his entire career.
For the Rams, it was enough to warrant an extension. Given the apparent value to their offense and run game, Williams was someone worth extending. However, even if they were favoring an extension, there never should have been a rush for the Rams to get a deal done. His value was never going to increase significantly.
The Rams running back was said to have worked on his speed and explosiveness in the offseason. Rams running back coach Ron Gould said,
“The first thing that stood out to us was his explosiveness. One of the things (I noticed) was just his ability to stay grounded through some of his runs that was really, really evident in the work that he’s put in, so really, really pleased with that…He’s gotten his speed back, so his explosiveness has come back.”
It would have been more than understandable for the Rams to see how much that came to fruition on the field. Through the first four games of the 2025 season, Williams had an explosive run rate of just 1.5 percent while ranking 31st out of 43 running backs in missed tackles forced per attempt. Among 43 qualified running backs, Williams ranks 23rd in runs in which he’s exceeded 15 miles per hour. It’s a rate of approximately 10.3 percent. For comparison, JK Dobbins has reached 15+ miles per hour at a rate of 14 percent and has an explosive run rate of 10.5 percent this season.
Kyren Williams is the David Montgomery of a backfield. He is the complementary piece used in short yardage and inside the 20. Yet, he’s the lead guy in this Rams backfield. It’s ok for the Rams to have Williams as part of their backfield. Where the issue lies is him being the engine that makes it go. If Williams is going to be the singles hitter, he can’t also be the guy that consistently hits into a double play. This past offseason, Williams was said to have worked on his ball security. Said Williams,
“Simply just grip strength – like grip workouts. I’m in the weight room and after my workout, I’m doing a little forearm, something just to continue to strengthen my grip, strengthen my fingers, strengthen everything like that because it goes a long way. Obviously, carrying the ball but also catching the ball and taking the ball away when somebody has it.”
Through five games of the 2025 season, Williams now has two fumbles. Over his past 33 games, Williams has fumbled the ball 11 times which is an average of one fumble every three games. The Rams running back just fumbled in a big spot in a big game once again. Fumbling in the playoff should have been a turning point. This is simply part of who he is as a player. It’s why waiting on an extension always made sense.
For a play caller like McVay, it makes sense that he would want a player that keeps the offense on track and why he would value that. At the same time, for as much as he values Williams for simply getting four yards and in pass protection, he also has to value protecting the football. It seems to be something he values as Corum didn’t get another carry after he didn’t secure the ball on a toss play.
It would be one thing if this was a phase for Williams. However, going back to Notre Dame, in the four years that he has been the featured running back of an offense, he’s fumbled three or more times in all four seasons. In half of those seasons, he’s fumbled five or more times. We are five games into the 2025 season and that number is already at two.
The way that the Rams have handled the running back position over the past few years has been odd to say the least. In 2024, they drafted Blake Corum who was a “clone” to Kyren Williams. That was likely done as a reaction to Williams getting hurt in 2023. However, now the Rams are stuck with two running backs with a similar skill set. They then drafted Jarquez Hunter in this past draft before extending Williams three months later.
This past offseason, Javonte Williams signed for $3 million while JK Dobbins signed for $2.1 million. The Minnesota Vikings traded a fifth-round pick and swapped sixth-round picks to acquire Jordan Mason. Brian Robinson was traded to the 49ers for a sixth-round pick. The point here isn’t that the Rams should have signed Dobbins or traded for Robinson. However, because the position is very scheme and blocking dependent, replacement level running backs can be had at a cheap price. Williams was never at the level of a Saquon Barkley or Christian McCaffrey to warrant an extension.
In the NFC Divisional Round, Williams fumbled in a big spot that resulted in three points for the Eagles. Take away those three points and the Rams need a field goal to tie instead of needing to go for the touchdown at the end to win. We’re very early into the 2025 season after a full summer of Williams’ fumbling issues being a topic of discussion and it has already cost the Rams a game.
The Rams have a Kyren Williams problem and because of the early extension, they are stuck with it. They would have to eat $12.8 million to move on from him in the offseason or $3.9 million in a trade. This isn’t to say that’s something that they need to consider, but only that those would be the financial repercussions.
Ever since the Rams paid Todd Gurley, they’ve had a philosophy of not paying running backs. They’ve cycled through players like Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson. Sony Michel was the team’s running back during their Super Bowl season. It’s odd that the Rams made an exception to this philosophy when they extended Williams.
We’ve reached a point in which it’s time to stop painting Williams as something that he’s not. We can go through the dance of wondering if Williams will fix his fumbling issues or that he’ll somehow get faster at this stage of his career. The fact of the matter is, this is just who Williams is as a player. The question becomes, does the good outweigh the bad? Is a high success rate good enough to outweigh the ball security and game-breaking speed issues?
At the very least, the Rams need to evaluate the running back usage going forward. Williams has proven that he can’t be the player to take 85 percent or more of the carries. With the resources that the Rams have invested in the position, they need to consistently get those other players involved. This can no longer be a one-man show given the ball security issues.
The Rams signed Williams to an extension in July and the fact that we’re having these conversations five weeks in is problematic. When all is said and done, it’s fair to wonder if the Williams extension is one that they regret.
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