Los Angeles Rams snap count evaluation through three games shows evolution of team in 2019

So, we’re three games into the Los Angeles Rams’ 2019 regular season. Let’s take a look at the snap counts and what they might reveal.

Offense

One thing to note overall is that the offense has gotten less work in each successive game. The Rams had just 64 offensive snaps in Week 3 against the Cleveland Browns, nearly a 17% reduction.

Not a ton to be gleamed from the offensive line or quarterback positions.

At wide receiver, not much to see here outside of a noticeable uptick in playing time for WR Josh Reynolds. He played a ton last year, but that was nearly all in the absence of WR Cooper Kupp. This year, the Rams are going with four receivers moreso than at any time under Head Coach Sean McVay.

The injury to TE Tyler Higbee in Week 2 skewed the tight end time over the last two weeks. Hopefully, he heals up over this week and can go on Sunday and we’ll get some more balanced opportunities to evaluate the relationship between he and TE Gerald Everett.

But obviously the most interesting thing to look into here is at running back.

Here’s a quick chart of the playing time balance between RB Todd Gurley, RB Malcolm Brown and RB Darrell Henderson, Jr.:

Now that chart looks very different than this one which looks at their carry totals and not snaps:

This of course leads to the question of how many snaps per carry each running back has gotten:

The real standout here is Brown’s Week 1 performance. While Henderson’s rate was similar, that’s because he had a single carry on two snaps. Brown had 11 carries on 21 snaps crossing that 50% rate falling under 20% in Week 3 with just three carries from 17 snaps.

Defense

Let’s start up front:

The major tell here is the combination of DT Sebastian Joseph-Day, DE Morgan Fox and DT Tanzel Smart seeing their time decrease week after week. Combined, they played 97.01% of the snaps in Week 1, 75.60% in Week 2 and just 54.41% in Week 3.

So skipping the linebackers who have had, remarkably, consistent playing time save for a Week 3 decrease from ILB Bryce Hager, the intrigue in relation to the defensive line is at the safety spot because of a certain rookie:

While the two conventional safety slots have been at 100% with John Johnson III holding down one spot and Eric Weddle holding the other (backed up by Marqui Christian when Weddle went down in Week 1 with a concussion and a pretty nasty cut), the story here is rookie S Taylor Rapp earning more and more time in his overhang-type role and the fact those snaps are coming from the defensive line (the cornerbacks were largely similar save for a jump in Week 3 from slot CB Nickell Robey-Coleman though not as stark as the season-long jump for Rapp).

Of course the caveat here is that we’re looking at just three games. Is Rapp’s increase in playing time a function of gameplan? Was it just situational? The picture should get clearer in the weeks ahead.

Special Teams

Seven players top 50% of the teams snaps including three rookies. Always the best way for Day 3 picks to make the team.

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The full spreadsheet is here if you wanna look at the numbers. What do you see from the snap counts, Rams fans? Any trends stand out? Anything you think is going to change moving forward? Is this the week rookie RB Darrell Henderson, Jr., makes his first major impact?