Through the first seven games of the season, the Los Angeles Rams offense has surprisingly produced a top-10 rushing attack in fantasy football.
Unfortunately, Kyren Williams has landed on injured reserve (IR) and will be unavailable to fantasy managers for a while. Let’s take a closer look at his latest injury update and current value in fantasy football leagues.
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Latest Injury Update for Kyren Williams
Williams suffered an ankle injury in the second half of the Rams’ 26-9 victory over the Arizona Cardinals back in Week 6.
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After the team decided to place Williams on IR last week, updates regarding his recovery have been scarce, which is pretty common for players who cannot return for several weeks.
When Will Williams Return?
The decision to put Williams on IR is one that will certainly put fantasy managers in a pinch for the next month of the season.
Williams is not eligible to return until the team’s Week 12 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals — who he posted a career-high 158 rushing yards and a score against back in Week 6. Unfortunately, that feels like an eternity in fantasy football.
When a player is placed on IR, they are required to miss a minimum of four games. The Rams’ bye week will be Week 10, which pushes his return out an additional week.
Assuming all goes well for Williams and there are no setbacks in his recovery, he should be a pretty good bet to return in Week 12.
Once we get there, the Rams will have a 21-day window to promote Williams to the active 53-man roster or simply rule him out for the remainder of the season.
What Is Williams’ Fantasy Ranking and Value?
Williams’ 110 total touches for 561 yards and seven TDs have been nothing short of fantasy gold for managers who spent a late-round dart throw on him. He has fruitfully rewarded all who took him late or aggressively went after him on the waiver wire after Week 1. However, his injury does have an impact on his fantasy value for the rest of the 2023 NFL season.
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To give you some more context about just how great Williams was to start the 2023 season, he is currently the RB4 in PPR formats — even with a messed game on his resume.
Williams was one of the very few bell-cow backs through the first month of the season, dominating the touches out of the backfield after Cam Akers was traded to the Minnesota Vikings back in Week 2.
The big question is … will Williams return to the same exact role once he returns? We saw the Rams give two running backs — Darrell Henderson and Royce Freeman — more than 10 carries against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Henderson had the most carries (18) and managed to find the end zone, giving him a slightly better fantasy day than Freeman.
If Henderson or Freeman play exceptionally well with Williams unavailable, they could make a case for a role in this backfield even when he returns. However, I think the stronger likelihood is Williams will step back into his leading role, which firmly puts him in the low-end RB1 conversation for the fantasy playoffs.