This side of Kyle Shanahan, there is no one in the NFL touted for their offensive genius quite like Sean McVay, who took over as the head coach of the Rams at the age of 30 in 2017 and immediately turned a troubled slog of an offense into a juggernaut.
Truly, McVay and Shanahan are entwined, because they each served at the feet of the master, Mike Shanahan, with Washington from 2010 to 2013. Each became a head coach the same season and used similar systematic principles to generate consistently efficient offense. The copycats trickled in at first: Matt LaFleur and Zac Taylor in 2019, then to a degree Kevin Stefanski in 2020 and Arthur Smith in 2021. By 2022, Kevin O’Connell and Mike McDaniel entered the league, and the writing was on the wall. Every sprout off every branch of the Mike Shanahan tree had successfully bloomed in the NFL, almost without exception, and today it is common knowledge that every new offensive hire will likely be some new offshoot of the same system.
Still, no one has mastered the masters, Kyle Shanahan and McVay, who evolve seemingly faster than anyone else can catch up. To this day, it is good practice in fantasy to pin down active running backs in these two systems, especially every-down bell cows if they materialize.
Todd Gurley was the best RB in fantasy football for a while in St. Louis and L.A. Christian McCaffrey became the best upon arrival in San Francisco, maintaining that mantle with unchallenged domination ever since. But Gurley and McCaffrey were first-round NFL picks. Kyren Williams took over as an unlikely workhorse last season and finished second (to McCaffrey) in PPR/G and EP/G, and he was only a fifth-rounder in 2022. Moreover, Williams was almost unanimously expected to be destined for a part-time or backup role due to his diminutive size and limited athleticism; it didn’t seem to matter. By now it seems obvious: Be the RB for one of these two coaches — the every-down guy — and you will be special.
Blake Corum, the star workhorse RB for the run-first National Champion Michigan Wolverines, arrives in L.A. as a third-rounder, the third RB taken in the 2024 NFL Draft. Expectations are all over the map. People are torn: Will Williams hold off Corum? Will Corum challenge Williams? This is becoming one of the most topical subjects in the summer fantasy football thought space. We know that if one earns a featured workload, we are bound to want him; but is it clear one can break free from the other? If so, is it possible to deduce who that might be?
IS BLAKE CORUM GOOD?
Corum is RotoViz’s No. 4 ranked dynasty RB (up one spot from last week). He was No. 18 in the NCAA in rushing yards in 2023 with 1,245 yards on the ground; he was No. 11 in 2022. He was fairly efficient as a runner in 2021, but as his market share numbers increased in successive seasons, his efficiency decreased, and he eventually had a sub-5.0 YPC in 2023. He comes across as a bit of a smallish plodder with decent evasion rate numbers and yards after contact, midlevel speed, and pitter-pattering cuts, even as he makes good decisions quickly. He has a good reputation for coming through in short yardage, a proven track record with larger workloads, and fair receiving acumen, despite limited usage in this area in college.
Corum is every coach’s favorite type of player, working through his obvious size and athleticism shortcomings and excelling at fundamentals. He has an excellent knack around the goal line, staying low, sliding into crevices, and finishing runs with good leverage. His pass-blocking is good, not great, and he is short but squat and relatively strong. A meniscus tear in college slowed him somewhat, but he otherwise seems durable. Throw it all in a soup, and an idyllic comp might be Emmitt Smith; a realistic one might be Devin Singletary. His sims in the RotoViz Draft Guide are Kendre Miller, Kerryon Johnson, Mark Ingram, Damien Harris, and Montee Ball; others have drawn a comparison directly to none other than Kyren Williams.
IS MCVAY SHOPPING FOR A WILLIAMS-TYPE?
Williams was taken in the fifth round. A smallish, fundamentally sound player with great passing game acumen, Williams was slotted by many to be a role player. The differences between him and Corum are few, but they are significant. Williams came into the league at 194 pounds, eleven fewer than Corum, and he was a lesser athlete. His workload in college was smaller, and his game tilted more toward the air than the ground compared to Corum.
