Who Should I Start? Austin Ekeler or Blake Corum

Wednesday, November 11, 7:25 PM

Los Angeles Rams running back Blake Corum has emerged as a borderline must-start in fantasy football, despite his role as the backup to Kyren Williams. Corum has yet to play more than 45% of the snaps in a single game this season, but he has managed to rank as the overall RB20 because of his role within the Rams' high-scoring offense. The Rams love to get him involved around the goal line, as he has now scored a touchdown in five consecutive games. He has also been fantastic in terms of efficiency with an average of 5.2 yards per carry, including 5.9 YPC over the last three weeks. The only real red flags with Corum are that he is somewhat touchdown-dependent and he hasn't been as involved in the receiving game lately. The good news is that Corum's volume could increase going forward, which gives him more looks in the passing game, and this uptick in volume should reduce managers' reliance on him to score a touchdown. Corum's anticipated role increase stems from injuries at the wide receiver position, as the Rams are now without Davante Adams (hamstring), Puka Nacua (knee), and Jordan Whittington (back) for an extended period of time. The Rams love to have Matthew Stafford throwing the football, but with an injury-riddled receiver room and tight end Terrance Ferguson (hamstring) also on IR, a lot of his passes may start going to the running back position. Williams is the team's top pass-catching back, but Corum totaled a respectable nine catches from Weeks 3-7. We can't count on Corum to maintain his insane touchdown frequency in his current role, but we do anticipate an uptick in volume that should keep him in the low-end RB2 or high-end RB3 tier going forward.