Kyren Williams’ “honorable mention” shows how much NFL rushing credit can belong to the offensive line

Kyren Williams is coming off a strong rushing season with the Los Angeles Rams, including 1,252 yards that placed him sixth among NFL rushers in 2025. Yet when ESPN released a recent top-10 running backs list, Williams did not make the main group, landing instead with an “honorable mention.” Yahoo Sports framed the decision as less an indictment of Williams and more a reflection of how much of a team’s rushing results can be credited to the offensive line.

The ESPN ranking process, as described by Yahoo Sports, was determined by a survey of NFL executives, coaches, and scouts. In other words, it was not based solely on raw box-score outcomes. That matters because rushing production often blends multiple influences, from the first five yards of a run to the more individual components that appear later. The debate is not simply whether a back is productive, but how a voter decides to distribute credit between a runner and the run-blocking unit creating the initial lanes.

Yahoo Sports pointed to a Rams run-game indicator meant to adjust for that problem: Adjusted Line Yards, a metric Football Outsiders uses to estimate how much credit the offensive line receives for team rushing production. In that framework, shorter gains near the line of scrimmage are credited more heavily to the blockers, while explosive plays are credited less to the line and more to what the runner does once the play breaks open. The article’s key takeaway was that the Rams offensive line ranked first in Adjusted Line Yards by a wide margin, which can depress the apparent “standout” value of the backs when rankings are driven by overall impact.

This is the crux of the Williams conversation. Total yards are still important, but voters who lean on adjusted concepts may see Williams as a back whose production benefited from elite run-game structure rather than a back whose runs consistently escaped the line with unique explosiveness. Yahoo Sports even noted that the metric is designed to limit the tendency to over-credit an offensive line purely because a team’s running back accumulated big totals.

Fantasy outlook can differ, and that divergence appeared in Sports Illustrated’s preview work as well, where Williams was discussed as an underappreciated option heading into the next season. That kind of analysis emphasizes usage, red-zone opportunities, and how an offensive setup can translate into role-based fantasy value. The two angles can coexist: Williams can be productive enough for a top-tier statistical finish, while still being treated as not fully “top-10” caliber by a ranking format that tries to isolate run-game credit distribution.

For the Rams, the practical implication is that the running game narrative will likely stay shared, especially in offseason conversation. When the offensive line gets credited first, it raises the ceiling for any back running behind it, while also making it harder for one individual to dominate the ranking conversations year to year. Williams’ role remains central, but the way evaluators score impact suggests the team’s line play is part of the reason his case is competitive rather than dominant on award-style lists.

What to watch next is whether the Rams keep producing at the same level in the run game once training camp reshapes preparation and offseason adjustments. If the team continues to separate itself in line-credited rushing metrics, Williams may keep getting evaluated as a beneficiary of a strong system. If his efficiency profile shifts toward more independent burst, the rankings could change quickly, because the same voters who downgrade line-dependent production may upgrade a back who generates more damage after the play leaves the initial congestion.