Todd Gurley won Offensive Rookie of the Year back in 2015 despite only playing 13 games for a subpar St. Louis Rams team. Now, his likely replacement will have a chance to take home the same award in 2020.
Cam Akers, who the Rams selected in the second round out of Florida State, is poised to take over for Gurley as the top back in Los Angeles. He still has to beat out Darrell Henderson and Malcolm Brown, but considering he was the Rams’ first pick in the draft and his well-rounded skillset, Akers has the makings of a No. 1 back.
He also has the talent to win Offensive Rookie of the Year. Lance Zierlein of NFL.com ranked the top 10 candidates to win the award this season and Akers came in at No. 6 on the list. Of all the players Zierlein named, Akers was the latest draft pick with most of the candidates going in the first round.
Here’s why Zierlein thinks Akers has a chance to take home the coveted rookie hardware.
One of the reasons I’m so high on Akers is that his Florida State tape is filled with plays in which he get yards for himself behind a poor offensive line. His ability to make his own lemonade could be very important, considering the Rams’ issues on the interior O-line. A bounce-back season from Jared Goff and the passing game would ease some of the burden on Akers, who has the talent to become a three-down runner right out of the gate.
According to BetMGM, Akers is +2500 (25/1) to win Offensive Rookie of the Year. Those are the 13th-best odds of any first-year player, so it’s not as if the oddsmakers view him as highly as Zierlein does. CeeDee Lamb, J.K. Dobbins, Justin Herbert and Jalen Reagor are the four players ahead of Akers on BetMGM’s board but were absent from Zierlein’s list.
Akers does have a legitimate chance to finish as the top rookie in the league, but it’ll take a mediocre season from Joe Burrow to make that happen. Rookie of the Year doesn’t favor quarterbacks as much as the MVP award does – only two quarterbacks have won it since 2013 and five since 2010 – but Burrow is set up for success in Cincinnati and should be one of the top rookies.
A 1,000-yard season and double-digit touchdowns isn’t out of the picture for Akers, who succeeded behind a terrible Florida State offensive line and with very little help from the Seminoles’ supporting cast. He should translate well to the NFL level.
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