Since being selected in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft, Cam Akers has experienced a sort of lackluster start to an NFL career that’s been marred with injuries. And while he seemingly fell out of favor in Los Angeles last season, Rams head coach Sean McVay has high expectations for the 23-year-old running back.
Akers has dealt with injuries throughout his career, but he hasn’t been particularly dominant when he’s been healthy. After the Rams tried to unsuccessfully trade Akers, he had a strong close to the 2022 season, rushing for 512 yards with six rushing touchdowns over the last six games, adding 11 catches for 99 yards during that time.
McVay recently appeared on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio with Adam Schein and spoke highly of Akers’ late-season surge. And since then, it seems like, at least according to McVay, that the Florida State product has hit the ground running and has carried over that confidence into offseason workouts.
“He’s really capitalized on a lot of the momentum he built up toward the latter part of the year. And he’s going to be a huge part of what we’re doing moving forward,” McVay said via USA Today Sports’ Rams Wire. “He’s had a great offseason. I love the rapport that he’s established with Ron Gould, our new running backs coach. Cam is going to be a central figure in this offense. I think he’s priming himself to have a great year. and also, I’ve loved what Kyren Williams has done in that running backs room. But Cam is a stud. He’s taking great care of himself physically, he’s in a good place mentally. Just continuing to mature and I’m really excited about what he’s going to do for us this year.”
While the Rams aren’t expected to be very good, McVay is expecting a lot out of Akers. After such a strong end to the 2022 season, it will certainly be interesting to see how he performs in 2023.
[Rams Wire; photo from Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports]
