The Los Angeles Rams fell to 0-2 on the preseason on Saturday night, losing to the Dallas Cowboys, 14-10, at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii.
Considering most of the Rams starters are not playing in the preseason though, wins and losses aren’t what is important. Rather, the coaching staff is focused on seeing how their young players perform and continue to improve as they begin to evaluate what their 53-man roster might look like to begin the season.
One player who got a lot of playing time against the Cowboys was rookie running back Darrell Henderson, as head coach Sean McVay said he would.
Henderson was bottled up in the run game, carrying the ball six times for just 16 yards. He was able to find some success in the passing game though as he also had six receptions for 36 yards.
McVay evaluated Henderson’s performance, and he was pleased with the rookie’s improvement from the first game, via Gary Klein of the L.A. Times:
“I thought he did a good job,” Coach Sean McVay said. “I thought for the most part he made some big-time catches, you could feel him in the pass game. Not a whole lot of space in the run game but I think overall… I thought it was step in the right direction.”
When evaluating his own performance, Henderson agreed that he was improving and added that he felt locked in when he was on the field:
“I had already had my mind right,” he said. “It’s football. … That guy across from you, he’s going to try to knock your head off, so you’ve got to be ready to knock his head off. You got to be locked in, and I was locked in.”
With Todd Gurley, of course, being the team’s starting running back and Malcolm Brown expected to back him up, the Rams will not be asking too much of Henderson in his rookie season.
Gurley is dealing with arthritis in his knee though, so the Rams have made it clear that they plan to limit his workload. Given his pass-catching ability, Henderson has an opportunity to carve out a role for himself as a change-of-pace back.
Henderson is currently listed as fifth on the Rams running back depth chart, but as he continues to play and improve, he should see himself work his way up that list.
