Sean McVay is one of the most creative and innovative offensive coaches in the league, and he’s pulled some tricks out of the bag in his first three seasons with the Rams. Cooper Kupp has attempted two passes on trick plays since 2017, though he didn’t complete either one.
The Rams should have a few more passes thrown by non-quarterbacks in 2020, though, after adding a running back with a great arm in the draft. Cam Akers is a former high school quarterback who completed five of eight passes for 97 yards at Florida State, showing off his arm when the Seminoles got creative.
McVay previously teased some trick plays for Akers after the Rams drafted him, and on Sunday, he once again hinted at the rookie throwing some passes when asked how extensively the Rams scouted him.
“He was the top high school recruit as a quarterback coming out. So, his stats are, when you look at them, it’s almost like a ‘Madden’ stat line when you see the stuff he was doing in high school. We knew about it. I know our personnel staff did a great job of vetting him and going real deep in terms of the background with (scout) Michael Pierce and all of those guys,” McVay said. “Then when you really start to study him, it shows up, and then they use him. I mean, there are some trick plays where he’s catching a swing pass to his left and flipping his hips and making 50-yard throws down the field. He did some impressive stuff. You never know, we might have a wildcat package coming to a theater near you.”
Wildcat packages were all the rage years ago when the Dolphins broke it out with Ronnie Brown taking direct snaps. He would either run it, hand it off or throw a pass, much like a mobile quarterback would.
It helped the Dolphins upset the Patriots back in 2008, and while they’re no long as popular, teams still use them occasionally – like the Titans did with Derrick Henry in the playoffs last year when he threw a touchdown pass against the Ravens.
Akers is one of the best passers you’ll see at the running back position, and it’s easy to put him in positions to throw it off of tosses and direct snaps. We’ll just have to wait and see how McVay deploys him and incorporates his arm into the offense.