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While Kyren Williams didn’t have much of an opportunity to make a meaningful impact in his 2022 Rookie season for the Los Angeles Rams, head coach Sean McVay very clearly was unhappy with his starting running back Cam Akers in 2022. Rightfully so, as Akers did not have 100 all-purpose yards in a game until mid-December of that season. While Akers did finish out the final four weeks of his 2022 season strong (410 RuYDS, 3 RuTD / 9 REC, 98 YDS) we should not have forgotten the displeasure that McVay expressed with his running back and should have taken this knowledge into our draft season for 2023. The changing of the guard happened in week 1 of the 2023 season, as Kyren Williams took the starting job over Cam Akers and was the RB 2 in average points per game in full-PPR scoring formats (12 games played, 21.3 PPG). Williams’ PPG only trailed Christian McCaffrey, the best running back in the NFL and fantasy football. Kyren Williams outscored the likes of Derrick Henry, Bijan Robinson, and Jahmyr Gibbs, all of which costed premium price points in fantasy drafts in 2023. Kyren Williams was the RB 7 in full-PPR scoring formats in 2023 (1,144 RuYDS, 12 RuTD / 32 REC, 206 YDS, 3 ReTD) and was virtually undrafted in fantasy football leagues.

Puka Nacua entered the 2023 season as a rookie and was also virtually undrafted in all fantasy football leagues. This was a huge mistake for us to make, as we began 2023 knowing Cooper Kupp was going to miss time with a calf injury, Van Jefferson surely wasn’t going to deliver in his absence, which left only Puka Nacua and Tutu Atwell to answer the call for the Rams in Kupp’s absence. As we all know, you should try to swing for upside with your late-round fantasy draft picks, but yet no one spoke of Nacua in their analysis heading into the 2023 fantasy football season. Sean McVay had glowing remarks about the wide receiver and Rams General Manager Les Snead expressed during the draft that they were “going to nail that pick!” when they took Nacua in the fifth round. Puka Nacua went on to have a record-breaking rookie NFL season in both receptions and yards (105 REC, 1,486 YDS) and also had 6 Touchdowns. This landed him at WR 4 in full-PPR fantasy football scoring formats, behind CeeDee Lamb, Tyreek Hill, and Amon-Ra St. Brown.

So considering the above, why did we overlook Kyren Williams and Puka Nacua heading into our 2023 fantasy football drafts? Did we take Sean McVay’s remarks as coach-speak? Did we fall in love with the end of Cam Akers’ 2022 season and think this resolved the issues with McVay? Going forward, we should keep in mind that when there are very real on-field issues, whether that be starter performance related or injured players opening up opportunity, that we should remember the remarks made by well-respected head coaches like Sean McVay. This could have resulted in many fantasy managers being able to draft both Williams and Nacua as league-winning roster stalwarts.