Kyren Williams hasn’t had the best start to the season so far, but on Sunday night, he threw a bit of a coming-out party for 2026. Unfortunately, the rest of the Los Angeles Rams are still struggling to find their footing.
It’s no coincidence that Williams’ best game of the season came on a night when he had the most touches. The way the season is going, the Rams might eventually realize they need him as the workhorse, since their only win so far was a 28-6 blowout over a downtrodden New York Giants team. They’ll also need to milk the clock a bit more after Monday’s 30-26 loss to the Denver Broncos, which moved Williams’ team’s record to 1-2 early in the season.
In total, the former Notre Dame star rushed 15 times for 88 yards, averaging 5.6 yards per carry. He also caught 6 passes for 70 yards. If he’d managed to find the end zone with one of those 21 touches, the Rams might have won the game. That will likely be the next focus, as Williams has scored just one rushing TD and one receiving score so far this year.
This season, Williams has 214 yards on 38 carries and a touchdown, plus 11 catches for 106 yards and another score. His ability to make himself useful out of the backfield, on the ground and through the air, goes back to his days at Notre Dame.
Kyren Williams’ best game of 2026 shows why Rams may need him as their workhorse
During his three seasons at Notre Dame (2019–2021), Kyren Williams compiled 419 carries for 2,153 rushing yards -averaging a robust 5.1 yards per carry- and found the end zone for 27 rushing touchdowns. In the passing game, Williams caught 78 passes for 675 yards and 4 additional receiving touchdowns. His peak performance came in back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing campaigns in 2020 and 2021, with his 2020 season earning him both ACC Rookie of the Year and ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year honors.
After his Notre Dame days, the Los Angeles Rams drafted him in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, and Williams blossomed into one of the league's most productive runners after a quiet, injury-shortened rookie year. His NFL career totals stand at 876 carries for 4,048 rushing yards and 37 rushing touchdowns, while adding 122 catches for 851 receiving yards and 9 receiving touchdowns. His breakout came in a stellar 2023 season, when he ran for 1,144 yards and earned Pro Bowl and Second-team All-Pro honors; he followed that with an even bigger 1,299-yard, 14-touchdown campaign in 2024 and a 1,252-yard effort in 2025.
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