Rams might have found new punt returner after NFC Championship gaffe

Six months ago, a muffed punt cost the Rams a chance to earn a spot in the Super Bowl.

On Saturday at Rams training camp, running back Kyren Williams handled the punt return duties, just as he did in the fourth quarter at Lumen Field in Seattle in the NFC Championship loss to the Seahawks.

Xavier Smith, whose costly bobble in the third quarter proved to be a turning point, is still listed as the team’s starting punt returner. But Williams’ reps at the position is another reminder that nobody inside the Rams’ building is trusted more than the man who has built his career around serving everyone but himself.

Williams was the Rams’ Walter Payton Man of the Year Award nominee in 2025 thanks to his selflessness and generosity off the field. He doesn’t treat community service like another item on his calendar. He doesn’t squeeze it between meetings or use it to polish a public image. He talks about serving others with the same conviction he talks about perfecting a jump cut or blocking a blitzing linebacker.

For him, football isn’t separate from service.

It’s the platform that allows him to live it.

Far too often, professional sports celebrate charity as an accessory. Teams issue a press release, players hand out backpacks, cameras roll, everyone moves on. It’s good work, but sometimes it can feel transactional.

Not with Williams.

The Rams’ star running back spent his precious off day on Thursday working with the community. Two days later, he stood in front of reporters after practice and explained why.

“That’s just who I am. I feel like the way I got into this game, the way I was inspired by this game was through community service, and it was through the Rams,” Williams said. “That’s what I do because I know exactly what it feels like to be touched by an NFL player and to be inspired by an NFL player. I want that for everybody that I come in contact with because it’s all possible.”

Long before he became one of the NFL’s most productive running backs, Williams was learning that service wasn’t optional. At St. John Vianney High School in St. Louis, community service wasn’t just encouraged, it was woven into the school’s culture. Williams chose to spend his free time working with children with special needs and youngsters from lower-income families. Those experiences shaped the man he has become today and is the driving force behind his passion to help others.
While in college at Notre Dame, Williams sought out additional opportunities to serve beyond those organized by the football program because “it wasn’t enough.”

His Catholic education and faith in God taught him that acts of service were an extension of acts of faith, a philosophy he has carried over into the NFL.

A year ago, shortly after he signed a three-year, $33 million contract extension with the Rams, Williams approached Molly Higgins, the Rams’ executive vice president of community impact and engagement, and told her he wanted to spend his off days serving the community.

“I want to be somewhere every Tuesday,” Williams told her.

So, Higgins helped make that happen. She connected him with local schools, nonprofits and youth organizations across Los Angeles. Literacy programs. STEAM education. Military appreciation events. Holiday distributions. Mentorship opportunities. Make-A-Wish events. Youth football clinics. Even after devastating Southern California wildfires, Williams was among Rams players showing up for displaced children, first responders and families trying to rebuild.

“I saw a lot of guys come up in the league and be these stars but also be so humble enough to go do these things outside of football, not only wanting the fame or wanting the glory of being a great NFL player,” he said. “I think there’s a lot that comes with it. Being able to keep myself as humble as possible to know that this could be taken away from me any day of the week and just living in the moment, trying to inspire the most people I can. That’s what I want to do.”

On Saturday, he was asked about Rams backup running back Blake Corum, a player with whom is he competing for snaps. He immediately smiled and began to talk about Corum’s newborn daughter, Zara, and the photos he proudly shares with him. It’s about family and supporting a teammate more than statistics.

That’s Williams in a nutshell. That’s why he’s trusted by all his teammates.

And that trust doesn’t end when he walks off the field.

The community trusts him. His teammates trust him. The Rams trust him to be the running back on the league’s most explosive offense.

And now, they’re trusting him with one of football’s most unforgiving jobs — standing alone under a spiraling punt with 11 players charging toward him at full speed.

Trust isn’t something Williams asks for.

It’s something he’s earned. 

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