Practice Squad rankings from CBS

Week 3 NFL Practice Squad Power Rankings 2021: Rams have the RB needed to add speed to their ground game
Let’s rank the best players currently on practice squads in the NFL
Chris Trapasso
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By Chris Trapasso
Sep 23, 2021 at 6:38 pm ET

With Matthew Stafford in the shotgun and Cooper Kupp already accumulating something like 1,000 yards on 250 targets through two games, I will not blame you, avid NFL fan and Practice Squad Power Rankings reader, for being completely enamored with the Los Angeles Rams pass game.

Because of the shininess of the Rams’ aerial attack, you probably wouldn’t believe me when I tell you that Los Angeles has finished in the top 10 in rushing attempts in three of Sean McVay’s first four seasons. [Dwight Schrute voice] It’s true. While analytics have tipped the scales toward passing more (and rightfully so), we mustn’t forget that any Mike Shanahan disciple (like McVay) has offensive roots that reside in the run game. Shanahanians — I’m officially trademarking that word — want to call stretch runs over and over and over then play-action off them with offensive line movement that looks identical to that of those inside and outside zone plays.

More so than anything else, the Shanahan system is famous for maximizing the efficiency of ANY running back. The quarterback friendliness of the offense is a useful byproduct.

#NeverForget — the NFC champion Rams of 2018 did have prime Todd Gurley but got 4.9 yards per carry from Malcolm Brown and 7.0 yards per from #thiccc Hall of Famer C.J. Anderson out of absolute nowhere.

You know what’s missing from Los Angeles’ ground-game, though? The next evolution of it that McVay’s direct mentor, Kyle Shanahan, has adopted to his offense — speed. If you trust your blocking system that much, you might as well get running backs who generate splash plays when everything’s gorgeously blocked in front of them.

Since the start of the 2020 season, the Rams have just nine rushes of 20 or more yards, which is tied for the 10th-lowest figure in football. In 2018 alone, when Gurley still had deceptive, game-breaking speed, the Rams hit 14 run plays of 20-plus yards.

Darrell Henderson is a reasonably quality, compact back. He’s not a burner. The same is true for newly acquired run-game option Sony Michel. Plus, Henderson’s battling a rib cartilage injury.

And McVay hinted at a sudden need for speed in the ground game when he signed Javian Hawkins to the practice squad on Monday. Remember how you couldn’t see Sonic the Hedgehog’s feet because he ran so fast? His lower half was just a spinning circle. That’s how I felt evaluating Hawkins at Louisville. He’s built low to the ground and an absolute blur. He had six runs of 40-plus yards in 2019 and had runs of 70, 75 and 90 yards in 2020 for the Cardinal. Dude can go.

In a time-tested running system that produces amazing running-back efficiency with insane on-field speed, Hawkins can be precisely what McVay and the Rams offense needs to round itself in a complete unit. Trust me, Sean.

In a sense, I’m running the Practice Squad Power Rankings parallel to the NFL. That means, as was the case last year, I’m not going to feature “veterans.” Telling you Le’Veon Bell might eventually be a useful call-up for the Ravens’ run game was certainly not the fundamental intention of the PSPR.

To continue to maintain the PSPR’s sterling integrity, I’ll only be including practice squaders who are rookies, second-year players, or third-year players. That’s it.

And as you’ll see below, I couldn’t resist ranking more players, given the increase in practice squad sizes this season. To stay in line with the league’s figure, I hope to write about 16 individuals every Friday: 10 officially in the rankings and six honorable mentions.

1. Javian Hawkins, RB, Rams
In the preseason, he accumulated 97 yards on 20 carries with a score, and three of those 20 carries went over 10 yards. And it’s not as if he’s only a low-volume, scat back with fantastic speed. Hawkins toted the rock 264 times at a 5.8 yards-per-carry clip in 2019 at Louisville. He plays bigger than his size.