The Los Angeles Rams announced that they acquired running back Sony Michel from the New England Patriots for two conditional draft picks which are reported to be in the fifth and sixth round in 2022.
The move doesn’t come as much of a surprise as it’s been clear the Rams needed to add a running back for a while after starter Cam Akers went down with a season-ending Achilles tear.
After Akers went down, Darrell Henderson has taken over as the starter and the Rams seemed to like their in-house options behind him like Raymond Calais, Xavier Jones and Jake Funk.
Henderson has proven to be injury-prone in his young career though and has recently been dealing with a minor thumb injury, which is perhaps the reason why L.A. decided to bring in another experienced back.
With Michel now in the fold, he can essentially split the workload with Henderson, who has always been better as a change-of-pace complementary back.
Calais has also been lost for a while with an injury, so Jones and Funk can now compete for touches as the team’s third running back.
Michel is a former first-round pick in 2018 out of Georgia who scored the only touchdown against the Rams in the Super Bowl in 2019. He has a history with Rams running backs coach Thomas Brown, who coached at Georgia while he was there.
In 38 games across three seasons with New England, Michel rushed for 2,292 yards and 14 touchdowns while averaging 4.3 yards per carry. He was limited to nine games due to injuries in 2020 but carried the ball 79 times for 449 yards and a touchdown, averaging a career-high 5.7 yards per carry.
It’s no secret that the Rams have Super Bowl aspirations in 2021, and with the addition of Michel, they now have a running back room capable of making it happen.
