Kyren Williams to return punts for Rams: Here’s how it will impact team and star running back

Los Angeles Rams Pro Bowl running back Kyren Williams made history in 2023, and now coach Sean McVay is positioning him to have potentially an even more unique season in 2024.

Last season, Williams ran for 1,144 yards rushing and 12 rushing touchdowns on 228 carries, averaging an NFL-best 95.3 rushing yards per game in the 12 games he played. He ranked third in the league in yards rushing, which made Williams the first player to finish in the NFL’s top three in yards rushing despite missing at least five games since Bull Karcis did so in the 1937 season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

McVay is positioning Williams for another unique challenge: having him return punts and remain one of the league’s top bell cow backs. 

“It’s another opportunity for him [Williams] to get touches and impact the game,” McVay said on Tuesday when revealing Williams will return punts. “You feel comfortable with that because of the confidence in Blake Corum and Ronnie Rivers being able to spell him if need be. … Kyren is a guy that we want to continue to have different ways that he can impact the game, and that’s one that’s going to be reflected.”  

For those interested how that impact Williams for fantasy football or other reasons, what history tells us about true RB1s simultaneously being punt returners is simple: it doesn’t happen very often. Since at least 1941, only 12 players have had 200 or more carries and 10 or more punt returns in a season. The last person to accomplish such a season was Tiki Barber in 2000, at the dawn of the 21st Century. Williams’ 1,144 yards rushing, as a reminder, came on 228 carries last season. 

If we adjust for perhaps a more modern portion of touches, especially since McVay had praise for Los Angeles’ 2024 third-round rookie running back Blake Corum out of Michigan, the last player to have 150 carries and 10 punt returns in a season was Saints Pro Bowler Alvin Kamara in 2018. Prior to Kamara balancing this double duty, Reggie Bush’s rookie year in 2006 was the second-most recent occurrence with that level of involvement as a ball-carrier and a punt return. 

History is made to be broken. Perhaps Williams can be the first since Barber to have a 200-carry, 10-punt return season in 2024, but the odds are stacked against him.