By Geoff Mosher

Copyright phillyvoice

Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay has a reputation for featuring a balanced offense, usually running the ball around a 42-to-44 percent clip, and almost always centering his rushing offense around one feature back. Most head coaches – especially ones who don’t have Saquon Barkley or Derrick Henry – like to keep the mileage off their top ball carrier, but McVay is perfectly willing to run his No. 1 into the ground. Rams RB Kyren Williams finished third last year in carries per game after leading the NFL in that category in 2023, his first season as a starter.

Already, Williams has taken the league’s seventh-most handoffs through two weeks (James Cook, who played Thursday night, doesn’t count because he played his third game Thursday).

But the Rams are also quietly integrating backup Blake Corum into their ground game. The former national champion from Michigan played 18 offensive snaps in the Rams’ 33-19 win last Sunday against the Titans, tying for the most of his career. He also carried the ball five times and gained 44 yards, including his first rushing TD.

Maybe McVay learned his lesson from wearing down Todd Gurley years ago when Gurley had three consecutive seasons of 300+ touches and wasn’t the same after. Maybe it’s just smart to get Corum, a 2024 third-round pick on the field at times. It’s a little odd to start reducing Williams’ workload after the Rams signed him to a 3-year, $33-million extension in August.

But it’s definitely be a smart idea for McVay to use both runners Sunday against an Eagles defensive front that poses a major threat to quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Corum is compact, downhill, decisive runner who like Williams lacks elite athleticism. But he has good vision, fluid movement, and rarely goes down on first contact. He’s only 5-foot-8 but weighs around 210 pounds, so he’s built like a mini-fridge.You can see here that he lacks anything special athletically except for the ability to bench press, and he posted a decent three-cone drill, so he’s more agile than he is fast.

Corum is the perfect fit for McVay’s run schemes because the Rams generally don’t need an uber-athlete to move the chains. The heavy use of motion, misdirection and receivers lined up tight to scrimmage who can block does the heavy lifting in the run designs. His RBs just need a good jump cut and to get downhill fast, which are two of Corum’s strengths.

Notice how he doesn’t immediately hit the hole on this inside zone run, instead widening his pathway to take the safety and outside corner wide and let the outside receiver climb to make the block. He’s setting up his blocks. Corum then makes a quick cut inside and get massive downhill momentum to break a tackle and tack on 5 extra yards.

Individually, the Rams’ O-line isn’t spectacular, and it’s been nursing some injuries this week. LG Steve Avila, one of their better ones, is dealing with an ankle and isn’t 100 percent to play.

But McVay always designs a wide variety of runs from both under center and shotgun, and it helps when his RBs can make plays when the blocking isn’t there.

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