Kyren Williams is the Rams punt returner

[Memphis Ram]

Even though Kyren returned 14 punts for 10.8 yards per his final year at Notre Dame, methinks this won't be season long.

 

[Tron]

Shoulda kept X. Smith as wr 6/7 and Punt/Kick returner. Real head scratcher, especially with the udfa's we kept over him. Neal? really? And woulda kept K Dubs fresher. really odd choice here. This will last as long as Kupp as returner.

 

[Loyal]

Love McVay, but this is plain and simple fuckin stupid. Kyren is already prone to getting nicked up. Corum I get will help lighten the load but don't give me the confidence on Rivers. He's not that damn good at all. He's ok depth at best. Real head scratcher but McVay seems to average at least one of those every year.

Bruh, it came down to a choice between Kyren or Stafford. Get up off me!" ~ McSnead.

 

[WestCoastRam]

Shoulda kept X. Smith as wr 6/7 and Punt/Kick returner. Real head scratcher, especially with the udfa's we kept over him. Neal? really? And woulda kept K Dubs fresher. really odd choice here. This will last as long as Kupp as returner.

53 will look different after 1st week

 

[Classic Rams]

Ew...

 

[Spider2YB]

The glass half full approach I’m going to take with both news items today is that the staff must be *really* high on Speights and Corum.

 

[DzRams]

View: https://x.com/StuJRams/status/1828569099687133253

Yep! The name Blake Corum is the first thing that came to my mind. They are obviously confident in their backups.

 

[Tron]

53 will look different after 1st week

I really hope so

 

[FrantikRam]

So will this be fair catches on every punt now?

What's funny about this....I feel like the last few years if our PR actually ran up and fair caught shorter punts, even without ever returning them it would be a net gain in field position

 

[Gandalf]

Good to know before my fantasy draft lol

You can pick up Corum in the later rounds.

 

[rdlkgliders]

Good to know before my fantasy draft lol

Agreed, I would have pushed him up the board a bit although he was 2nd pick of round 3 and wouldn't have made it to me.

 

[Merlin]

What is the injury rate at PR? Is it really that much higher than other positions?

That's a good question. I don't have actual facts and figures supporting that returns get you injured. Just sort of feels like that is the case.

 

[Legatron4]

That's a good question. I don't have actual facts and figures supporting that returns get you injured. Just sort of feels like that is the case.

Not insinuating either way. Just curious. Because it seems like PRs generally stay healthy. But taking on the load of that AND RB may cause more stress on his body.

 

[Karate61]

Does Williams have the speed to take it to the house? Isn't that what we want in a kick returner?

 

[AllGasNoBrakes]

I like this. New rules- think outside the box. Look at it as a running down and have your blockers set up the lane. Plus, Kyren has return experience from college.

 

[muggmeister]

Guess McVay plans on wearing him out before his next contract is due. Maybe he will have Puka return kickoffs, hell, Stafford has the best arm on the team, maybe he should be the long snapper. In other words I'm not on board with this idea.

 

[jjab360]

Strange. A small take for me from this is that maybe they know Corum is going to be used a whole lot and maybe they're trying to make sure they have ways to keep Kyren more involved/happy?

 

[LARams_1963]

I like this. New rules- think outside the box. Look at it as a running down and have your blockers set up the lane. Plus, Kyren has return experience from college.

As far as I know there are no new rules on a punt return. Kickoffs, yeah. I don’t like the exposure to an already semi fragile player.

 

[OntarioRam]

I am not so sure about this.

Injury risk makes this questionable, as many have said. He is already injury prone as it is!

But his speed on top of that, really makes me question if it is worth it.

He does not have exceptional burst. That is why he fell as far as he did in the draft. Many pundits were down on him due to his perceived lack of speed. Nobody doubted his ability as a runner with the ball in his hands, his cuts, his vision, etc. On punt returns, ideally and all else being equal, you want some someone with big speed and acceleration. Someone that can chew up as many yards as possible in a hurry, if the coverage team is not there immediately. I am not sure Williams is that guy.

I am not calling him slow. Like many Rams, he is much faster with pads on and a ball in his hand than his 40 yard dash time would indicate. Same with Kupp. Nacua. Etc. But he isn't explosive.

I know he had some nice punt returns in college. I am not convinced it will translate at the NFL level with his burst. Not worth with the injury risk IMO. Maybe I am wrong. But I suspect whatever production we get out of him returning punts, could be replicated by less valuable players on the roster.

 

[Merlin]

Not insinuating either way. Just curious. Because it seems like PRs generally stay healthy. But taking on the load of that AND RB may cause more stress on his body.

Well for myself I have issues expecting him to stay healthy as it is. Which is why I think we'll eventually be Corum > Williams with Williams as the change of pace. But RBs get hurt like crazy so just like I cringe when I see Kupp returning punts it bugs me.

All that aside if KW gives us a flipped field position every couple games... I'll quickly forgive risking him. So we'll see how it goes.