LOS ANGELES — As Kyren Williams began the 2024 season, the Los Angeles Rams star running back had a personal goal in mind: Finish the season healthy.
The 2022 fifth-round pick had played in 22 games in his first two seasons, spending time on injured reserve with an ankle injury during his rookie season and again in 2023 when he missed four games with an ankle sprain.
Williams also broke his hand in the Rams’ 2023 playoff loss to the Detroit Lions, requiring offseason surgery, and missed most of the Rams’ offseason program after needing to clean up residual effects from a previous foot surgery.
So going into the 2024 season, he started a new regimen, taking care of his “body at a high clip,” he said. Williams got two massages a week, was lifting three times a week and started doing some “supplemental” work after practice with his ankles and feet to “be able to stay strong.”
“I started doing that [last] year and I can feel a difference between how my body responds week-in and week-out,” Williams said after making it through the regular season without missing time due to injury.
Williams only missed the regular season finale when head coach Sean McVay opted to rest his starters because Los Angeles had clinched the NFC West.
And he did it despite accounting for 43% of the Rams touches this season, which led the NFL, according to ESPN Research.
Williams also showed the Rams just how key his presence was in the offense. This offseason, the Rams have the option of signing him to a contract extension or allowing him to play out the final season of his rookie deal.
Williams was a “steady, calming presence” for the Rams according to offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur. With injuries to their top two receivers in Weeks 1 and 2, the Rams offense and quarterback Matthew Stafford no doubt leaned on their star running back in 2024. Williams ranked seventh in the NFL with 1,299 rushing yards in 16 games.
“He’s meant so much,” McVay said as the Rams prepared for their first playoff game. “He has such a great energy about himself. He enjoys the competition. He loves to do challenging things and the resilience that he shows is a real reflection of his mental and physical toughness. That embodies a lot of the things that we want to be about.
“I think he’s been at his best in the most important moments that we’ve needed him, and we wouldn’t be in this situation without him.”
WILLIAMS’ IMPORTANCE TO the Rams offense became clear during the 2023 season. While Stafford’s return from a thumb injury in Week 11 was a key spark for Los Angeles, so was Williams’ return from his ankle injury in Week 12.
In the six games Williams played to end the regular season, he averaged more than 114 rushing yards per game and scored eight touchdowns (six rushing, two receiving).
Williams is one of two players with 1,000 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns in each of the last two seasons, according to ESPN Research. The other is Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry.
And while the Rams drafted running back Blake Corum in the third round in April, Williams still had a heavy workload. That was especially apparent in Weeks 14 and 15, when Williams had 29 carries in each game — contests that took place five days apart.
According to ESPN Research, Williams accounted for 70% of the Rams rushes this season, 9 percentage points more than the next-closest player (Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson, 61%). It’s the highest percentage by any player since Josh Jacobs (79% for the Raiders) and Derrick Henry (72% for the Titans) in the 2022 season.
“He’s a warrior,” LaFleur said. “He’s just as tough as they come mentally. He’s not the biggest dude, but he brings it with fight. There’s an energy about that guy that all the guys feed off. I think we’re seeing his best ball right now and I know he even feels like there’s even more out there.”
WILLIAMS HAD JUST one year remaining on his rookie deal as he enters his fourth season and is eligible for a contract extension.
This offseason, the Rams will have a decision to make: extend Williams or let him play next season under contract and hand the reins over to Corum or someone else in 2026. When the Rams drafted Corum in April, McVay said the rookie had a lot of characteristics on the field that reminded him of Williams. The Michigan product finished with 207 yards on 58 carries as a rookie, also contributing on kickoff returns.
Rams general manager Les Snead said in his end of season press conference that a potential extension for Williams will be on the docket in offseason conversations, but said, “sometimes it is tougher to sign someone who’s not in their final year.”
“That usually could be a difference in numbers, but a lot of times there’s no real deadline,” Snead said. “It can drag on. He would be someone that after three years you could begin discussing… let’s call it renegotiating or starting anew.
“I do think Kyren is someone who is a Ram and has a very impactful role for us.”
When asked whether drafting Corum plays into signing Williams to an extension — whenever that might be — Snead said, “I think we would probably take the philosophy that you’re going to need more than one running back.”
“We’ll always try to keep that room somewhat healthy in terms of depth,” Snead said. “Even with Kyren, there’s a chance that he has had two great years but there is a possibility where he needs a partner to take some load off of him. He has probably played more than any running back over the last two years. That’s something to think about.”
And while Williams said he hasn’t really thought about whether the Rams will extend him this offseason, he said, “I know I do love L.A. and I know that I would like to stay in one spot for my career.”
“I don’t want to be bounced around everywhere,” Williams said. “But no, L.A. is definitely a spot that I see myself being at, calling home. But that’s not up to me. I just got to continue to do what I do best and that’s putting in the work and going out there on Sundays to make sure that that work is rewarded.”
