With starter Kyren Williams and backup Ronnie Rivers both dealing with injuries, the Los Angeles Rams are revamping their running backs room.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Rams are signing Royce Freeman from their practice squad to their active roster. Additionally, Los Angeles is bringing back a familiar face, signing Darrell Henderson to its practice squad.
Rams head coach Sean McVay hinted at the potential elevation of Freeman from the team’s practice squad while discussing the injuries to his top two running backs earlier this week. With both players out, rookie Zach Evans is expected to start at running back for Los Angeles in its Week 7 matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Obviously you saw Zach Evans get the first carries,” McVay said of the 2023 sixth-round pick, according to the team’s official website. “We’ve got Royce Freeman on the practice squad, and there will be some different things that we’re in the midst of working through right now. We’ll probably have a little bit better idea once you get the full gauntlet of what it is exactly looking like projection-wise on both Ronnie and Kyren, how that will reflect any sort of decisions as it relates to the roster, and then what it looks for the landscape of the league.”
Williams suffered an ankle injury, while Rivers suffered a knee injury in the team’s Week 6 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
With Evans and Freeman currently the only healthy running backs on the Rams’ active roster, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the team elevate Henderson for Sunday’s game vs. the Steelers. Selected out of Memphis in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft, the 26-year-old spent the first four years of his career with the Rams, starting 28 games, 10 of which came during the team’s Super Bowl-winning season in 2021.
After being waived midway through the 2022 campaign, Henderson signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars but never appeared in a game for the team before being released. This past July, his rights were acquired by the Arlington Renegades in the XFL for the 2024 season.
As for Freeman, the former Oregon standout spent the 2022 season with the Houston Texans, rushing for 51 yards on 11 carries in one game.
