Running back wasn’t viewed as a need for the Los Angeles Rams entering this offseason with Todd Gurley, Darrell Henderson and Malcolm Brown all under contract already. However, that quickly changed in March when the Rams released Gurley, pushing running back toward the top of the team’s positional needs.
The Rams didn’t waste any time addressing that spot, selecting Cam Akers with their first pick (52nd overall) in the 2020 draft. Akers joins Henderson and Brown as part of the backfield committee, though the share of touches will be worked out closer to the start of the season – and even into the season.
Akers looks like he’ll be the top running back on the depth chart, with Henderson serving as a change-of-pace guy, which makes the rookie a promising prospect in fantasy football. According to Pro Football Focus, Akers is in the fifth-best situation among all rookie running backs.
From a workload standpoint, there’s nothing holding Akers back — there’s little talent at the position on the Rams’ roster and Sean McVay has obviously been willing to ride the position with Todd Gurley in recent years. The issue is the 31st-ranked offensive line that didn’t make a single addition before taking Clemson guard Tremayne Anchrum in the seventh round. It’s still going to be bad. If there’s any silver lining, it’s that Akers is used to that. He ran behind the fourth-lowest graded run-blocking line in the Power-5 last season.
Part of what the Rams liked about Akers was his experience running behind a bad offensive line at Florida State. Les Snead mentioned that it’s closer to what Akers will see in the NFL as opposed to some of the other backs who were given huge running lanes in college.
There are still concerns about the Rams’ offensive line and run blocking, but Akers should still have success as a rookie with all of the other weapons Los Angeles has on offense.
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