Jarquez

Hunter

Adams has been rehabbing this hamstring injury for weeks. He played through it without issue in Week 14 but suffered a re-injury in Week 15. Tonight’s absence was expected. It gives rookie WR Konata Mumpfield a chance to establish himself as a contributor, though expectations must be held in check. He should not be started in re-draft formats. The Rams also declared CB Ahkello Witherspoon, QB Stetson Bennett IV, RB Jarquez Hunter, OL Beaux Limmer and OLB Nick Hampton inactive in Week 16 against the Seahawks.

Nacua injured his ankle while attempting to secure an end zone target in Week 6. He sat out the Rams’ Week 7 game against the Jaguars, but fortunately for the Rams, they were on bye in Week 8, allowing him to miss just one game in two weeks. He should be started as a high-end WR1 against the Saints. The Rams declared QB Stetson Bennett IV, RB Jarquez Hunter, CB Darious Williams, OL Beaux Limmer, OL David Quessenberry and DE Desjuan Johnson inactive for Week 9 against the Saints.

Nacua will get a Week 8 bye to rest up before eying a Week 9 return against the Saints. Hunter is back to being a healthy scratch after getting some work on special teams over the past month. He hasn’t earned a snap on offense this year.

They elevated Cody Schrader from the practice squad to play over Hunter, though neither should have much a role behind Kyren Williams and Blake Corum. Non-dynasty leagues don’t need to hold Hunter at this point. Also inactive for the Rams are: QB Stetson Bennett (third quarterback), DL Ty Hamilton, OL Justin Dedich, OL David Quessenberry, and DL Desjuan Johnson.

It’s an interesting development considering we rarely see Sean McVay teams hold four active backs on game day, a potential hint that the team could be primed to make rookie Jarquez Hunter a healthy inactive for the team’s Week 1 contest against the Texans. Schrader enters his second year in the league and was active on two occasions late last season.

The Rams drafted the 22-year-old Hunter in the fourth-round of April’s draft. He brings pass-catching upside to the Rams backfield and has received praise from the Rams’ coaching staff throughout camp. This spells bad news for Blake Corum, who did not carve out a sizeable role last season. Kyren Williams is still slated to take the vast majority of backfield touches, but Hunter can mix in on passing downs and earn handcuff value for fantasy purposes.

The contract includes $23 million guaranteed. Williams has been productive is inefficient over his two seasons as LA’s lead back. Only Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry have more rushing yards over the past two seasons than Williams, who has scored 31 touchdowns since the start of the 2023 regular season. He has ten 100-yard rushing performances over those two years. Williams should continue functioning as the Rams’ unquestioned RB1 in 2025, while rookie RB Jarquez Hunter is the favorite to seize the RB2 role.

There wasn’t much questions Williams should show up for camp. It’s noteworthy, however, since Williams is in talks with the Rams about a contract extension headed into his fourth NFL season. The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue reported two weeks ago that Williams’ contract extension “could be worked out by the end of training camp,” but notes that “the Rams will not pay top-market money for a running back.” Among the least efficient rushers in the NFL, Williams over the past two seasons has totaled 2,443 rushing yards and 26 rushing touchdowns as LA’s lead back. There’s not much reason to believe Blake Corum or rookie RB Jarquez Hunter have a chance of usurping Williams — a longtime Sean McVay favorite — for RB1 duties in 2025.

It’s hard to imagine an instant path to playing time and fantasy value for Hunter behind Kyren Williams and Blake Corum, but after the Rams traded up for him in the fourth round he’ll likely have an inside track to a roster spot this year. Hunter will be more of a dynasty stash in 2025 than someone to have an eye on in redraft leagues. Should a rash of injuries hit the Rams backfield, he’s a plausible contributor.

The Rams moved up with the Colts to make the pick. Hunter (5’9/204) brings a productive four-year profile to the pros that features a career rushing line of 539-3,371-25 and a receiving line of 68-558-4. Even while sharing a backfield with Tank Bigsby for two seasons (2021 and 2022), Hunter still managed to average 8.9 touches per game in those two seasons, along with 61.8 yards from scrimmage per game. Hunter excels at generating yards after contact (3.96 YCO/ATT) and forced a missed tackle on 30.6 percent of his carries – an impressive total. His 204-pound frame may prevent him from fully replicating the elite tackle-breaking traits we saw from Hunter in college, but his 4.44 speed and physicality at the point of contact will make him a challenge for any defender to bring down. Hunter still has some work to do as a pass blocker, which could limit him from seeing significant third-down work early in his career, but his ability to contribute on special teams (313 career snaps and 25 career kick returns) will give him an immediate path toward playing time while irons out finer points of his game. Hunter won’t push Kyren Williams for the starting job as a rookie, but he will compete with Blake Corum for the RB2 role in LA.