The Los Angeles Rams running back’s time with the Rams is finally over…for real this time. Cam Akers Traded to the Minnesota Vikings for a swap of 2026 draft picks. After a year’s worth of drama, the Rams pulled the trigger, sending Akers to the Minnesota Vikings for a washing machine, okay a late-round pick swap in 2026 but considering Akers’ potential it might as well be a washing machine. He was after all the Rams first pick in the 2020 draft.
It sucks because, on one hand, the Rams rid themselves of a player that for one reason or another fell out of the “WE NOT ME” culture. On the other hand, the way he looked when things were right…this is a bummer.
Cam’s Long And Winding Road With The Rams
His fate was sealed when he was a healthy scratch in an important game against the Niners. Kyren Williams swiftly usurped Akers’ role the first week of the season despite there being no rumbling in training camp. Things seemed to be going well. Akers and Sean McVay appeared to bury the hatchet after last year’s mid-season chaos wrapped inside their precipitous free fall. He bragged about adding muscle and there were flashes of him looking like he did during his rookie season self. It took less than two weeks for all that goodwill to vanish. But, fans were already okay with moving on after that first Kyren touchdown.
It was a tad shocking that the Rams took Cam Akers in the first place. They were expected to add an offensive lineman but they didn’t. Instead, they added a running back and it wasn’t A.J. Dillon, JK Dobbins, or Antonio Gibson, but Cam. Akers.
Fans were confused because there were plenty of other backs in the draft and that position wasn’t the highest priority. While he set freshman records at Florida State, he wasn’t seen as that dynamic of a back. The Rams’ logic stemmed from him being a dual-threat back. Sean McVay wanted someone to compliment Darrell Henderson and give them a one-two punch after learning their one-back lesson with Todd Gurley.
It took a while but he scored his first touchdown in week eleven against Tampa on Monday Night. He then broke out on Thursday Night Football game against the Patriots rushing for 171 yards and he’d really come through with 131 yards in the playoffs at Seattle. The Rams finally had a game-changing running back or so it seemed.
The same day the Milwaukee Bucks would clinch the NBA Finals against the Suns, Cam Akers tore his Achilles during training camp and a team with championship aspirations took a massive hit. In a true Christmas miracle, Akers was activated off IR on Christmas Day and dressed in the infamous Week 18 loss to the Niners.
He made his presence known in round two against the Bucs but not in the way fans would’ve wanted. He had a massive fumble at the end of the first half and would have another critical turnover that almost allowed Tom Brady to rip Rams fans’ hearts yet again. In the Super Bowl, he could only get 21 yards but every yard mattered in that victory.
Tensions Boil Over
Perhaps he was rushed back too soon and perhaps that led to some frustration both with him and the organization. He never got his burst back and the running game sputtered like Senor Ding Dong’s van and tensions boiled in Week 5 of 2022 when he requested a trade. That never happened because his value was akin to a pumpkin on November 1. He was absent from the team for three weeks while the two sides tried to figure something out.
Whatever happened Akers seemed to be back. On Christmas Day he smoked the Broncos for 118 yards and three touchdowns. A week later, he had 123 yards and in the week 18 finale, he had 104 yards.
Coming into this season there was momentum that he was ready to ball out in a contract year and with his added muscle he would be able to overcome his health issues and perhaps he was fully back from his Achilles injury.
It took all of one game for things to break down. Aside from losing his burst, Akers never excelled as a pass blocker whereas Kyren Williams was adept at it. He didn’t seem to have the same level of field awareness that Kyren did.
Cam Akers Traded- The Sage Concludes
Now he’s back with his former offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell who is probably one of the last friendly faces Akers has (the other being Panthers OC Thomas Brown). Can he make an impact on a Vikings team that’s quickly becoming a sinking ship? Who knows. Could the Rams have gotten more value out of him from other running back-starved teams like the Ravens if they weren’t so honest about the culture stuff?
Probably.
What is known is that Cam Akers’ journey from rookie sensation to feel-good story to being ridden out of town on the Metrolink is as abrupt as it is sad. Going forward, the Rams have a versatile back in Kyren Williams and will integrate Ronnie Rivers and possibly Royce Freeman or Zach Evans into the rotation. Cam Akers came into LA with a ton of potential and while it was fun for a brief window, he just couldn’t overcome his health and maturity issues. Here’s hoping he can do that in Minnesota.