I like Kyren Williams and Javonte Williams. They’re good players. But I’d like them more if they did a little more in the passing game.
Both players did a good job last year of punching in short touchdowns. They’re veterans who know what they’re doing. They each finished with 13 TDs last year, trailing only six other running backs.
But with both guys, they don’t do offer much in the passing game. Both averaged just a hair over 2 catches per week last year. With Kyren, he’s capable of a lot more, but the Rams don’t use their backs much in that capacity. With Javonte, he was also remarkably lousy in that capacity last year, averaging only 3.9 yards per catch – a rare back who averaged almost a yard more on runs rather than catches.
The limited production is all the more remarkable considering both teams have veteran quarterbacks and productive passing games. The Cowboys and Rams ranked 1st and 2nd in passing last year, yet their running backs ranked last and next-to-last in receiving yards by the running back position.
With each of these teams, they got about 18 receiving yards per week out of their running backs, but about 259 yards out of their other players.
| RECEIVING YARDS IN 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Running backs | Other players |
| 1162 San Francisco | 4427 Dallas |
| 916 Atlanta | 4390 LA Rams |
| 828 Pittsburgh | 3878 New England |
| 808 Detroit | 3759 Detroit |
| 664 Buffalo | 3711 Cincinnati |
| 646 NY Giants | 3709 Arizona |
| 645 Arizona | 3622 Seattle |
| 621 Cleveland | 3601 Jacksonville |
| 616 Miami | 3600 Indianapolis |
| 614 Denver | 3598 New Orleans |
| 602 NY Jets | 3571 Houston |
| 581 New England | 3567 LA Chargers |
| 533 Carolina | 3528 Chicago |
| 533 Cincinnati | 3522 Kansas City |
| 529 Tampa Bay | 3373 Green Bay |
| 485 Indianapolis | 3317 Buffalo |
| 472 Green Bay | 3317 Denver |
| 470 Tennessee | 3226 Tampa Bay |
| 463 Chicago | 3156 San Francisco |
| 458 Baltimore | 3116 Philadelphia |
| 458 Las Vegas | 3057 NY Giants |
| 441 Seattle | 2997 Washington |
| 429 New Orleans | 2857 Las Vegas |
| 425 Jacksonville | 2838 Minnesota |
| 425 Kansas City | 2820 Baltimore |
| 386 LA Chargers | 2804 Pittsburgh |
| 385 Houston | 2787 Atlanta |
| 382 Philadelphia | 2771 Carolina |
| 370 Minnesota | 2771 Tennessee |
| 332 Washington | 2706 Miami |
| 317 LA Rams | 2531 Cleveland |
| 308 Dallas | 2182 NY Jets |
—Ian Allan

