Tag: Cam Akers

Running back Cam Akers signs with Texans amid confusion on Vikings roster spot

Cam Akers was expected to sign with the Vikings after his physical with the team earlier this month, but it turns out that wasn’t the case.

Running back Cam Akers was expected to sign with the Vikings after passing his physical with the team earlier this month, but it turns out that wasn’t the case.

On Sunday, the Texans announced they were bringing in Cam Akers for a workout. They would eventually put pen to paper, and Akers is officially a Houston Texan. He heads to Houston where they are making over their running back room led by former Cincinnati Bengal Joe Mixon.

The loss of Akers leaves the Vikings running back room relying heavily on Aaron Jones. Outside of Jones the running back group is made up of Ty Chandler, Kene Nwangwu, DeWayne McBride, and Myles Gaskin.

That group of running backs has a combined 496 carries in their careers.

It would not be out of the realm of possibility that a team adds someone if it makes roster cuts. Many veteran running backs on rosters find themselves on the outside looking in, but Minnesota could be their new home.

Former Rams RB Cam Akers signs with Texans

Former Rams RB Cam Akers is getting another shot, this time with the Texans

The Houston Texans have announced that they have signed former Rams running back Cam Akers. Akers, a second-round pick out of Florida State in 2020, spent a little over three years with the team before being traded to the Vikings in 2023.

During his time with the Rams, Akers helped filled the void left by Todd Gurley and was part of the franchise’s Super Bowl run in 2021, returning to the team for the playoffs after tearing his Achilles tendon in training camp.

Akers is attempting to come back from another Achilles injury that he suffered with Minnesota last season, which limited him to only six games with the Vikings before going on the shelf.

In his Rams career, Akers rushed for 1,443 yards and 10 touchdowns in 30 games (15 starts). He also had 250 receiving yards and one touchdown.

 

Texans to sign former Vikings RB Cam Akers

The Houston Texans are adding another running back in Cam Akers following his workout over the weekend.

The Houston Texans are adding more depth to their backfield.

According to multiple reports, the Texans are signing running back Cam Akers following his workout over the weekend. The details of the deal have not been made official at this time.

A second-round pick in 2020, Akers is coming off a torn Achilles suffered in November as a member of the Minnesota Vikings. Traded from the Los Angeles Rams in early September, Akers played six games for Minnesota, rushing for 138 yards and a touchdown on 38 carries.

The former Seminoles star also caught 11 passes for 70 yards.

Akers being cleared to work out is a sign that he should be cleared for drills during practice.

Best known for his time in Los Angeles, Akers fought to return in 2021 after suffering a torn Achilles during offseason workouts. He returned in December ahead of schedule to help the Rams defeat the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Against Cincinnati, Akers totaled 21 rushing yards on 13 carries, along with three catches for 14 yards in a 23-20 victory.

Houston is banking on the upside of Akers, who rushed for over 2,800 yards while scoring 27 touchdowns during his tenure at Florida State. In 2022, Akers scored a career-high nine touchdowns while averaging 4.2 yards per carry with the Rams.

In Houston, Akers will back up Joe Mixon and Dameon Pierce while competing for the No. 3 role with Dare Ogunbowale and rookie Jahwar Jordan.

KPRC2 was the first to report the news on Akers’ signing.

Report: Texans work out former L.A. Rams RB Cam Akers

The Houston Texans could be looking to add more running back depth before the Hall of Fame game against the Chicago Bears.

Even with the addition of Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon, the Houston Texans could be in the market for another rusher before the start of the 2024 season.

According to KPRC 2 Sports’ Aaron Wilson, the Texans worked out former Los Angeles Rams running back Cam Akers. Houston also worked out former Ohio State running back Myian Williams and veteran Deon Jackson.

Akers, a second-round pick out of Florida State in 2020, has also drawn interest from the Minnesota Vikings, where he played last season after being traded from Los Angeles in September. In six games, he rushed for 138 yards and one touchdown and caught 11 passes for 70 yards before suffering a season-ending Achilles injury.

Akers was part of the Rams’ Super Bowl championship roster after returning from a torn Achilles tendon suffered during offseason workouts. While expected to miss the entire season, Aker returned to the active roster in December.

In the Super Bowl against the Cincinnati Bengals, he totaled 13 rush attempts for 21 rushing yards in a 23-20 victory. Akers also caught three passes for an extra 14 yards from Matthew Stafford.

Houston’s run game should be drastically improved with the addition of Mixon, who joined the Texans via trade earlier in the offseason. The Texans believe Mixon still can be one of the league’s top runners in Bobby Slowik’s offense and see his role expanding in a new location.

After the trade became official, the Texans gave the 27-year-old Mixon a three-year, $27 million contract extension. So far, Slowik has been pleased with the 2021 Pro Bowler’s work ethic and consistency in the backfield alongside reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud.

“He’s a fun, fun person to coach,” Slowik said Saturday following training camp. “I mean, from day one, showed up and absolutely worked his tail off. I mean, you could see right away in phase two and in OTAs, like I understand now why he was as good as he was at Cincinnati.”

Even if Akers doesn’t sign, Houston must find a serviceable No. 2 option behind Mixon after finishing  28th in yards per game last season.

Devin Singletary was an ideal second option, but following his breakout down the stretch, the New York Giants inked him to a three-year, $16.5 million deal as Saquon Barkley’s replacement.

Third-year running back Dameon Pierce has quietly put together back-to-back solid practices heading into Monday’s practice. After nearly rushing for 1,000 yards as a rookie, the Florida product regressed in Slowik’s zone-based offense, averaging only 2.9 yards per attempt.

Pierce has looked more decisive in cuts and appears significantly more comfortable running in Slowik’s scheme, a testament to his offseason workouts both during OTAs and while away from the facility.

“He’s always been a tireless worker,” Slowik said. “But now he’s seeing the dividends of that and it’s been fun to watch him in OTAs and camp. I mean, he’s doing really good stuff in camp.”

Report: Vikings expected to sign free agent RB Cam Akers pending physical

According to a report from Pioneer Press writer Charley Walters, the Minnesota Vikings intend to sign RB Cam Akers, pending a physical.

A familiar face could soon be joining — or rather, re-joining — the Minnesota Vikings backfield. According to a report from Pioneer Press writer Charley Walters, the Vikings are poised to bring back running back Cam Akers, provided he passes a physical.

Akers remained with the team for the 2023 season after a late-September trade with the Los Angeles Rams brought him to Minneapolis. Like most Vikings running backs in 2023, Akers struggled to gain yards.

In six games with the team, Akers ran the ball 38 times for just 138 yards and one touchdown before being lost for the season with a torn Achilles — just one week after starting quarterback Kirk Cousins suffered the same injury.

Adding Akers to the Vikings backfield could spell the end for at least one running back on the roster. Free agent acquisition Aaron Jones will be safe and, presumably, the team’s starting running back. Ty Chandler should also be secure as a change-of-pace back to spell Jones.

Beyond that, though, the situation at the position gets interesting. Currently, the Vikings have Kene Nwangwu, DeWayne McBride, and Myles Gaskin on the roster. Nwangwu’s roster spot is likely also safe due mainly to the special team’s contributions he brings to the team.

It’s hard to imagine the Vikings going into the season with six running backs on the roster, which likely spells the end of the road for either McBride or Gaskin — or perhaps both. One of them could wind up on the practice squad, but it’s unlikely both do.

McBride was drafted by the Vikings in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft and spent all of last season on the team’s practice squad. Gaskin was originally a seventh-round selection by the Miami Dolphins in the 2019 NFL Draft and spent his first four seasons in Miami — including one year as a starter — before joining the Vikings for a portion of last season.

Will Rams snap NFL’s longest active streak of drafting offense first?

The Rams are tied with the Chargers and Steelers for the longest active streaks of drafting offense first. Will they snap it this year?

Before Sean McVay arrived in 2017, the Los Angeles Rams fielded an anemic offense for years. From 2007 to 2016, they never ranked higher than 21st in points scored and finished last in the NFL in scoring three times.

It’s hardly surprising that he and the Rams have sunk a lot of resources into the offense over the last seven years, being an offensive-minded coach, but this year’s draft class could be more about helping the defense.

Just about every mock draft has the Rams targeting a defensive player in the first round, whether it’s an edge rusher, a cornerback or a defensive tackle to help fill the void left by Aaron Donald. If the Rams do draft a defensive player with their first pick, it’ll snap a four-year streak of Los Angeles taking an offensive player first – tied for the longest active streak in the NFL with the Steelers and Chargers.

Here’s a look at each of the Rams’ top draft picks under McVay.

  • 2023: OL Steve Avila (36th)
  • 2022: OL Logan Bruss (104th)
  • 2021: WR Tutu Atwell (57th)
  • 2020: RB Cam Akers (52nd)
  • 2019: S Taylor Rapp (61st)
  • 2018: OL Joe Noteboom (89th)
  • 2017: TE Gerald Everett (44th)

Going all the way back to 2013, Rapp is still the only defensive player drafted first by the Rams, so it’s been a heavily skewed toward the offense for the last 11 years. That just goes to show it hasn’t been completely because of McVay.

Les Snead, of course, has been the Rams’ GM since 2012, and he’s the primary decision-maker when it comes to draft picks – in conjunction with his head coach.

All signs point toward the Rams taking a defensive player first this year, given their needs on that side of the ball. However, no one should be surprised if they select a wide receiver in Round 1, or potentially an offensive tackle to be the long-term solution behind either Alaric Jackson or Rob Havenstein.

Vikings don’t tender Cam Akers and Khyiris Tonga

The Vikings declined to extend RFA offers to Khyiris Tonga and Cam Akers, allowing both to hit free agency as the new league year begins.

The new league year has begun, and with it comes a flurry of free agency deals becoming official. It also means that new players are hitting free agency, as is the case with a couple of now former Minnesota Vikings players.

Minnesota opted to not offer Restricted Free Agent tenders to running back Cam Akers, defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga and others according ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.

There are four tender options with the RFA tag that organizations have that they can place on players: First-round, second-round, original round, and right of first refusal. Each tag comes with descending price tags and less compensation for the club should they decide not to match any offer sheets.

The decision to not tender Akers makes sense for the Vikings, as Akers isn’t likely to have received an offer and Minnesota now has a solid backfield with last year’s emergency of Ty Chandler and the recent acquisition of former Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones.

The decision on Khyiris Tonga is a little more interesting. Tonga played well for the Vikings in a reserve defensive tackle role. With the departure of Marcus Davenport and Danielle Hunter in free agency, Minnesota is getting thin along the front seven.

A ‘right of first refusal’ tag would have been a significant increase for Tonga, as that tag comes with a price tag of nearly $3 million versus the $940K Tonga made last season.

Both players are now available on the open market and free to sign deals with any team in the league.

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Projected market value for Vikings’ top free agents

With NFL free agency less than two weeks out, we took a look at the market values for different Minnesota Vikings free agents

Minnesota Vikings fans have heard it over and over again, but it can’t be overstated how important this off-season is for the franchise’s future. One of the first dominoes to fall is the free agency period, and Minnesota has a lot of difficult decisions to make regarding the franchise’s direction.

Will Kirk Cousins and the front office find common ground on a deal? Can the long-term Viking Danielle Hunter stay in purple for another contract? What will it take to keep K.J. Osborn in the fold?

In this exercise, we find a few examples of what their market value is projected to be from experts in the industry.

Market projections courtesy of Spotrac

Vikings vs. Lions: 4 storylines to watch in Week 16

These storlylines are worth watching as the Vikings take on the Lions this Sunday

The Minnesota Vikings are set to take on the Detroit Lions in the second annual winter whiteout on Christmas Eve in week 16.

During the Vikings 7-7 campaign, they have dealt with a myriad of injuries and struggles throughout the year. From losing star wide receiver Justin Jefferson to starting four quarterbacks due to injuries and poor play, it’s been an excellent coaching job from both Kevin O’Connell and Brian Flores.

They still face an uphill battle if they want to win the NFC North. Just one Vikings loss or Lions win will give Detroit their first division title since 1993 when it was the NFC North.

During Sunday’s game against the Lions, these storylines will be pivotal to watch.

WATCH all 30 Vikings touchdowns from 2023 season

Relive every one of the Vikings 30 touchdowns through 12 games.

The Minnesota Vikings sit at 6-6 heading into their bye week. In those 12 games, they have found a way to amass 30 touchdowns.

The defense has found their way into the end zone multiple times as well, with D.J. Wonnum and Jordan Hicks finding the end zone. Interestingly enough, the Vikings won both games where the defense scored.

The offense has found its way into the end zone 28 times with rookie Jordan Addison scoring seven of them. 23 of their touchdowns have come through the air and five of them have come on the ground with all five of those coming from week eight and beyond.

With the bye week here, relive every Vikings touchdown from the all-22 view.