[Elvis]

Well, when Gurley and Brown don't both go down, how much would we expect Henderson to play? 3rd RB shouldn't get a tremendous amount of work, may as well give him the snaps in pre-season no?

I don't know, gotta think DH figures in the offense at least as much as Brown or Reynolds and they're not taking preseason reps. He needs them. And like i said, it makes sense, he's a rookie. The other guys aren't.

But also, like i said originally, the only thing that makes worry about Henderson is all the preseason reps he's getting, makes me wonder if it means he's not ready even though i see at least one other potential explanation...

[dieterbrock]

3rd round RBs usually play significant snaps if they are good and ready.

Here are RB drafted in the 3rd over the past 5 years. I think all the good ones played significant snaps in their rookie year.

Darrell Henderson
David Montgomery
Devin Singletary
Damien Harris
Alexander Mattison
Royce Freeman
Alvin Kamara
Kareem Hunt
D'Onta Foreman
James Conner
Kenyan Drake
C.J. Prosise
Tevin Coleman
Duke Johnson
David Johnson
Matt Jones

Did any of them play due to availability of the 2 players in front of them?
Its a cute list, and grouped appropriately:

the first 5 guys on it were all drafted this year.

the next 3 aren't anything like the Rams situation, unless your wish comes true and Gurley gets hurt:
Freeman was drafted to be the primary RB, but undrafted Lindsey ultimately took all the starter snaps. (And booted CJ as well)
Kamara was drafted to split snaps with Ingram, who was a huge disappointment in NO
Hunt was the starter from day 1

Then the rest of the list. Feel free to pick any of them out of the pile and insist on matching the production

D'Onta Foreman? 78 car 327 yards
James Connor? 32 carr 144 yards
C.J. Prosise? 30 car 172 yards

[max]

Did any of them play due to availability of the 2 players in front of them?
Its a cute list, and grouped appropriately:

the first 5 guys on it were all drafted this year.

the next 3 aren't anything like the Rams situation, unless your wish comes true and Gurley gets hurt:
Freeman was drafted to be the primary RB, but undrafted Lindsey ultimately took all the starter snaps. (And booted CJ as well)
Kamara was drafted to split snaps with Ingram, who was a huge disappointment in NO
Hunt was the starter from day 1

Then the rest of the list. Feel free to pick any of them out of the pile and insist on matching the production

James Connor? 32 carr 144 yards
C.J. Prosise? 30 car 172 yards

How about this question...

Why did the Rams move up to draft Henderson? Why didn't they stay where the were instead of trading away two 3rd round picks for one higher 3rd round pick?

That doesn't sound like a team that is planning not to play a rookie RB. It sounds more like a team that plans on getting this RB involved in the offense this year.

Make no mistake about it, if Henderson is red shirted this year, the Rams will be disappointed.

Thats not to say the Rams planned on using Henderson as the primary backup to Gurley, but surely they planned on getting his speed on the field this year in some capacity.

[AvengerRam]

After two games, here is how the "opportunities" (rushing attempts + targets) have been divided among the three Rams RBs who have played:

Darrell Henderson 19
John Kelly 11
Justin Davis 8 (only played Game 2)

Similarly, here's the snap counts:

Darrell Henderson 51
John Kelly 41
Justin Davis 17 (only played Game 2)

Given that breakdown, I'm not sure why people are suggesting that Henderson is getting fewer reps than expected.

[max]

After two games, here is how the "opportunities" (rushing attempts + targets) have been divided among the three Rams RBs who have played:

Darrell Henderson 19
John Kelly 11
Justin Davis 8 (only played Game 2)

Similarly, here's the snap counts:

Darrell Henderson 51
John Kelly 41
Justin Davis 17 (only played Game 2)

Given that breakdown, I'm not sure why people are suggesting that Henderson is getting fewer reps than expected.

I don't get it either.

I think he is right on schedule. Not sure how all that red shirt nonsense started.

It's clear that McVay wants to play DH and get him totally comfortable and confident. And it was apparent that DH is making strides from PS game1 to PS game2. He isn't looking for a roster spot like Kelly and Davis.

[dieterbrock]

How about this question...

Why did the Rams move up to draft Henderson? Why didn't they stay where the were instead of trading away two 3rd round picks for one higher 3rd round pick?

That doesn't sound like a team that is planning not to play a rookie RB. It sounds more like a team that plans on getting this RB involved in the offense this year.

Make no mistake about it, if Henderson is red shirted this year, the Rams will be disappointed.

Thats not to say the Rams planned on using Henderson as the primary backup to Gurley, but surely they planned on getting his speed on the field this year in some capacity.

It doesn't mean any of that.
Clearly you mentally play out the entire season on a day by day basis.
The Rams saw his talent, had him rated very high and was he was available, they made sure they got him.
At present, he's the 3rd RB.
If his playing time is limited because Gurley and Brown are so dang effective and blow it up, the Rams likely wont be disappointed.

[Elvis]

Who is saying DH is getting less reps than expected? I'm saying he's getting more and i take that (mabye) as a negative indicator about his readiness.

Also, i don't think you can stack the RBs 1,2,3. Ideally, DH is gonna play a different role in the offense than Gurley/Brown and i won't be surprised to see Gurley and DH on the field at the same time. I think of DH as a more effective, more RB centric version of Tavon.

As for trading up a few spots to grab DH, Rams trade up and down all the time and traded down 3 times before making a single pick, doesn't mean anything. That's how they do. Some were taking that trade to mean Gurley was in bad shape. It's a bad take no matter what conclusion you try to draw from it...

[AvengerRam]

Who is saying DH is getting less reps than expected? I'm saying he's getting more and i take that (mabye) as a negative indicator about his readiness.

Oh... that wasn't clear when I read your prior post.

In the end, we're all just guessing. We won't know what his role is truly going to be for a while. Maybe not until a few games into the regular season.

[dieterbrock]

Who is saying DH is getting less reps than expected? I'm saying he's getting more and i take that (mabye) as a negative indicator about his readiness.

Also, i don't think you can stack the RBs 1,2,3. Ideally, DH is gonna play a different role in the offense than Gurley/Brown and i won't be surprised to see Gurley and DH on the field at the same time. I think of DH as a more effective, more RB centric version of Tavon.

As for trading up a few spots to grab DH, Rams trade up and down all the time and traded down 3 times before making a single pick, doesn't mean anything. That's how they do. Some were taking that trade to mean Gurley was in bad shape. It's a bad take no matter what conclusion you try to draw from it...

Maybe we are saying the same thing, but drawing a different conclusion?
I say that McVay seems to play the guys in PS who may not get as much of a chance to play in the regular season. I don't see that as a sleight, more of an opportunity. Gurley and Brown don't need the reps, they just need to be healthy.
I agree on the Tavon analogy, he'll get some plays that TG nor Brown dont

[max]

It doesn't mean any of that.
Clearly you mentally play out the entire season on a day by day basis.
The Rams saw his talent, had him rated very high and was he was available, they made sure they got him.
At present, he's the 3rd RB.
If his playing time is limited because Gurley and Brown are so dang effective and blow it up, the Rams likely wont be disappointed.

That makes no sense.

McVay acquired Dunbar because he wanted a change of pace RB to complement Gurley. That didn’t work out cause Dunbar wasn’t physically able.

One of the results was Gurley getting overworked. As Gurley said, only he and Brown were active on game day and Brown played STs. That was Gurley telling us he was getting overworked.

McVay then went to the draft to get his change of pace RB. Henderson catches the ball well and has more speed than Brown. He ain’t getting his time limited because of a power back like Brown. That part of your statement is absurd. McVay has a plan for DH, and we’ll all get to see it on the field in a few weeks.