Darrell Henderson Jr. 2022 Outlook: High-End Backup In Explosive Offense
3 years agoLos Angeles Rams running back Darrell Henderson Jr. was exceptional as the feature back for the team last season prior to his trip to the COVID-19 list and prior to suffering a knee injury late in the season. He racked up 15.7 PPR points on 18 opportunities per game, good for RB14 during that stretch. But what's key is the snap share he received. Henderson played on more than 75% of the snaps in six of those 10 games he was the starter. Then Sony Michel took over as the starter in Week 13 and played on an average of 89.7% of the snaps through the end of the regular season. This tells us Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams are keen on featuring one guy out of the backfield. In 2022, that'll most likely be Cam Akers, although he didn't quite have the same burst towards the end of last season coming off an Achilles tear that he suffered prior to the 2021 season. With Michel no longer on the roster, the backup job is once again Henderson's to lose. The Rams selected Kyren Williams in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, but don't expect the rookie to see much of a workload in Year One so long as Akers and Henderson are healthy and chugging along. If Henderson can hold onto the backup role, he's well worth taking towards the end of your draft because of the likely workload he commands should anything else happen to Akers this season.