Kyren Williams
Williams is still the Rams' lead back on about 70% of snaps, but he shares carries and touches with Blake Corum, and the usage dispute is now public.
Role
Through six games he has played 287 of 410 offensive snaps (70%), against 114 (28%) for Corum, per ESPN. Against Arizona he played 40 snaps to Corum's 16 in ESPN's count, while PFT had 42 to 16. He has 110 touches for 610 yards to Corum's 56 for 314, per PFT. Ronnie Rivers also appears on the ESPN player page for Corum, and one Yahoo piece had him at 6.5% of snaps over the first five games. Williams had 21 touches against Denver, 26 against Philadelphia and 22 against Buffalo, when he played 60 of 82 snaps. He had a season-low 13 touches against Arizona: 10 carries and three catches on six targets.
He still has the third-most offensive snaps among RBs this season. Before Week 6 he averaged about 70% of snaps. Three straight games had 21 or more touches. The Cardinals game was an outlier: the Rams ran only 56 plays and 20 designed runs, and trailed late. He also complained publicly about his role, which could push McVay to feed him more. Yahoo noted that Williams ran 5.0 yards per carry on the day, and that the offense might have benefited from more work for him.
PFT says his carries are at their lowest since he became a starter. Corum gets the ball on 47% of his snaps, against 36% for Williams. McVay said in the offseason that he wanted to cut Williams's workload, and ESPN reported the split as intentional. The offense is 2-4 and inconsistent. In Week 6 Corum nearly matched him in touches, with 11 to 13 by PFT's count, and scored a touchdown. ESPN's own Corum page calls it an even split.
Where analysts split
The question is whether the Arizona game was a one-off or the new normal. Yahoo and Athlon read it as a shrinking role, and PFT says his snap share matches last season. Related to that: will McVay respond to Williams's comments by giving him more touches, given he has not committed to that? McVay's response to the comments has not been confirmed in what I found.
Research confidence: reported. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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