Which Rams running back should feel more pressure from Jarquez Hunter?

Jarquez Hunter brings a new dimension to the Rams’ backfield, but whose role is he about to shake up?

It wasn’t necessarily a surprise when the Los Angeles Rams selected a running back in the 2025 NFL Draft. The Rams have drafted a running back every year that Sean McVay has been the head coach. In addition, while the Rams had a strong running game last year, it lacked a lot of variety. It’s great to have a running game that can keep an offense on schedule. At the same time, having a running back that can make plays in space and create explosives can take an offense to another level.

This is what the Rams running game has lacked consistently. Kyren Williams does a great job keeping the offense on schedule. He ranked 14th in rushing success rate last season among running backs with at least 200 carries. At the same time, he consistently only gets what’s blocked for him. Williams finished with exactly 0 rushing yards over expected. Williams also finished 22nd among 23 running backs in explosive run rate. All of this is known.

When the Rams drafted Blake Corum last year, it was an overcorrection to a problem from the year prior. Without Williams in the lineup, the Rams offense struggled and was not able to produce consistently from a rushing perspective. The Rams tried Royce Freeman and Darrell Henderson and both were unable to provide the same spark that Williams could. To prevent that, Corum was drafted as a Kyren Williams clone. On draft night, McVay spoke about Corum matching a lot of what Williams gives them.

Having similar profiles in players can be a good thing, especially in the case of injury. However, it’s also possible to have too much of one thing and that’s what happened when the Rams drafted Corum. Williams remained healthy last season and therefore Corum didn’t see much playing time. In his 58 carries, he didn’t create a single explosive play and his 3.57 yards per carry ranked 59th out of 70 running backs. His 1.66 yards after contact ranked 69th.

Instead of a thunder and lightning duo, the Rams had thunder and thunder. They had two running backs with near-identical skill sets.

Again, it’s no surprise that the Rams drafted a running back. However, taking one in the fourth round may have been earlier than some were expecting. Still, the Rams needed variety in their running back room and that’s part of what makes Jarquez Hunter so exciting.

When the Rams drafted Kyren Williams in the fifth round, the plan always seemed to be to use him and Cam Akers as a tandem. Williams’ injury in 2021 and then the Akers drama in 2023 derailed that. While Hunter is a limited, scheme-specific version of Akers, he brings the same 4.4-speed, one-cut decisiveness, and physical running style.

In the areas that Williams struggles, Hunter thrives. The now Rams rookie had the second-highest career explosive run rate in this draft class, ranked 11th in yards after contact last season, and his 48 percent breakaway percentage ranked 10th in the FBS. Those are all areas in which Williams lacks.

The Hunter selection provides the Rams a lot of flexibility. In a sense, it is a course-correction from last year when they selected Corum. That isn’t to say that Corum is a bust or won’t have a future role in the offense. With that said, it became clear as the season progressed in 2024 that the Rams lacked variety in the backfield. Much of that issue in particular goes back to the selection of Corum and the overreaction to ensure that the running game could succeed without Williams.

Additionally, it gives the Rams options when it comes to the extension of Williams. While the Rams would like to have Williams on the Rams long-term, they are also going to have a price. It’s unlikely that they pay him $14-million per season and spend that much at running back. For as important as Williams has been in the offense, he also isn’t a game-changing type running back like Todd Gurley, Saquon Barkley, or Christian McCaffrey.

In the case that the Rams can’t come to an agreement with Williams, the addition of Hunter allows the offense to have a player in waiting to take over. The Rams can go from a duo of Williams and Hunter to Corum and Hunter and keep a similar dynamic in the backfield. Hunter gives the Rams some leverage when it comes to negotiations with Williams. They aren’t forced into a situation in which they have to re-sign Williams to an extension.

Hunter seeing the field early all comes down to how he develops in pass protection. This is something that Blake Corum struggled with and is a reason why he only got 58 carries as a rookie. There’s a reason why Williams led the NFL in pass-blocking reps with 153. If Hunter can show enough in pass protection, he could surpass Corum. However, McVay has tended to not play rookie running backs for this reason. Darrell Henderson had 39 carries as a rookie while running behind an injured Todd Gurley. Cam Akers managed 145 rushing attempts as a rookie, but 86 of those came in the final five weeks of 2019.

It’s unlikely that Hunter threatens Williams as a rookie, but if he develops in pass protection, the Auburn running back could eat into some of Williams’ carries. That may not be a bad thing as Williams ranked third in the NFL in carries last season with 316. Only Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley had more. Williams is never going to be a home-run threat, but being able to keep him fresh during games may end up being beneficial.

Still, in the immediate, the player most at threat of losing touches to Hunter is Corum. As outlined previously, Corum seems more like a backup to Williams than a complementary piece to the running game. That doesn’t mean that Corum is a bust or doesn’t deserve carries. However, his skillset is simply very similar to Williams. If Hunter can be reliable in the passing game, specifically in pass protection, that will earn him playing time over Corum.

The addition of Hunter isn’t necessarily about replacing Williams or a negative on Corum. It is more about adding another flavor to the running back room and giving the team flexibility. Hunter also allows McVay to see out his vision in a sense of what he wanted with an Akers-Williams duo that was never seen out.

Depending on how Hunter plays in 2025, the Rams may feel comfortable with a duo of him and Corum. That may have an effect on a potential Williams extension. In the meantime, Williams is still going to be a big part of the offense.