Ryan Clark spotlights one way that Kyren Williams is outproducing league leader Christian McCaffrey
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey has had an unchallenged run as the league-leading rusher in the NFL in rushing yards. However, he has a new contender in LA Rams' Kyren Williams.
Super Bowl-winning safety Ryan Clark pointed out the running back's gains on Friday's edition of ESPN's "First Take."
"Do you know, coming into this weekend, who leads the league in rushing yards per game?" Clark said. "It's not Raheem Mostert, it's not Christian McCaffrey, it's Kyren Williams, and that leads to the play-action pass, which Matthew Stafford is dealing better than any quarterback in the entire NFL right now."
Those who have kept up with the Rams this season were not surprised to see Williams near the top of the NFL. With their running back, the team has scored at least 28 points in every game since Nov. 20. During the month he missed due to injury, the team tallied 21 points or more zero times. At this point, it's clear who the heartbeat of the offense is.
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Christian McCaffrey's seat atop NFL rushing leaders in danger
The San Francisco 49ers star running back currently has 1292 yards. Meanwhile, Kyren Williams, despite missing a month of action, has climbed into the second spot and has become the second RB to reach 1000 yards this season at 1057 yards.
Since his return on Nov. 26, Williams has earned at least 85 yards in every game and at least 100 yards in four of the five contests in that span. Of course, one area that still separates the two running backs is the receiving game.
McCaffrey still has about a 300-yard advantage in receiving yards, and if one were to add the two categories together, Williams would still be 450 yards shy of Christian McCaffrey. That said, from a purely ground-and-pound perspective, the Rams running back can pull off a comeback of the season.
Another caveat is that the Rams played first this week, so Williams is one game ahead of the rest of the league at the time of writing. That said, even getting into the position he's in right now has paid dividends for quarterback Matthew Stafford, who is getting praised like it's 2021 in the aftermath of the convincing victory over Derek Carr.
Can the Rams keep their win streak alive?
If any of the above quotes are used, credit "First Take" and H/T Sportskeeda.