OPTIONS FOR THE LOS ANGELES RAMS AFTER LOSING CAM AKERS

BY ADAM GREENE

Tuesday morning the Los Angeles Rams seemingly had their Super Bowl aspirations take a hit when it was confirmed that starting running back Cam Akers tore his Achilles and would miss the entirety of the 2021-22 season.

This is not good, as Akers had separated himself from the rest of the Rams’ backs in the latter half of the 2020 season, but it’s not catastrophic. There’s no reason to tear up your Rams NFC Championship betting slips (currently paying at +700) just yet.

While Akers was good and due a solid season, this was a guy that started just seven games counting the playoffs, though he did appear in 15. He was hardly the key to the offense. This isn’t like losing Todd Gurley at the end of the 2018 season to knee issues, and if anything that should tell you something about how Akers’ injury will affect the Rams. That year LA signed C.J. Anderson off the street and he ran them all the way to the Super Bowl.

Los Angeles head coach Sean McVay hasn’t pushed the panic button. The Rams have a full running back room, led by third-year back Darrell Henderson Jr., who would likely be the feature back on plenty of other teams and McVay is content to go to battle with his current crew. Behind him you have Xavier Jones, Raymond Calais and rookies Jake Funk and Otis Anderson. None have a single NFL carry between them, but that’s not important either.

Professional football has a glut of running backs entering and circling the league every season and the difference between the fifth best runner in the league and the 20^th best is negligible. If a guy isn’t uninjured Gurley in his prime, he’s not precious.

Henderson matched Akers in productivity last season. Akers had 145 carries for 625 yards and two touchdowns in the regular season while catching 11 passes for 123 yards and a score. Henderson had 138 carries for 624 yards, five touchdowns and had 16 catches for 159 yards and a TD. That doesn’t look like a drop off to me. Frankly, it’s a push and that’s good news for the Rams.

What you could get now is a nice little surprise from your depth chart. I particularly like the Rams’ rookies – Funk and Anderson. Funk averaged 8.6 yards per carry at Maryland his senior season and Anderson 5.5 per carry at UCF. Anderson could turn out to be a real UDFA steal as he was originally recruited as a wide receiver. He had 91 receptions for 1,025 yards and nine touchdowns in his college career.

McVay doesn’t lean on rookies early, there’s too much in his offense for them to learn. So while Funk and Anderson might turn into something later in the season (and I like their chances), it’s unlikely they’ll get to do much than a few carries in the year’s opening month.

The guy that could benefit the most is second-year Xavier Jones. Jones was the bellcow at SMU (Eric Dickerson’s alma mater), rushing for 1,276 yards and 23 touchdowns. He’s the biggest, most physical back on the Rams roster at 5-11, 208. He’s not the specimen that Gurley was, but he’s the closest thing LA has to that in the building.

And that brings us to the available free agents and possible trades, if McVay does feel, as they go through camp and the preseason, that that they need another body in the room. It would likely come at one of these young runners’ expense, at least on the non-practice squad roster. With Akers healthy, it’s unlikely all of them would have made the team. LA kept five on the 53-man last season.

In a trade, the natural target would be someone like James Robinson of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Robinson is on a cheap contract, signed as an UDFA last season before running for 1,070 yards and seven touchdowns. For his trouble, new head coach Urban Meyer and general manager Trent Baalke drafted Clemson’s Travis Etienne in the first round to replace him. A guy like Marlon Mack from the Indianapolis Colts could be had for very little (and might get cut anyway). Word out of New England is that Sony Michel, coming off an injured 2020, is on his way out entering the final year of his rookie contract. Bill Belichick could certainly move him for some draft capital over letting him walk at the end of the season.

As for the available free agents, Gurley is still on the street and the most natural fit. Gurley’s knee isn’t what it was, but the man is still a force in the red zone. Though he averaged just 3.5 yards per carry last season, he scored nine touchdowns, more than Henderson and Akers combined. He knows McVay’s offense, especially the blocking schemes and, frankly, everybody just wants this to happen. Gurley back in No. 30 in LA just seems natural.

After him, future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson still wants to play, though he doesn’t fit what the Rams do at all. Duke Johson does, as do Le’Veon Bell and LeSean McCoy. A reunion between DeSean Jackson and McCoy, two guys jettisoned by the Chip Kelly regime with the Philadelphia Eagles, would be fun. Also, it should be noted that the last two teams that signed McCoy, the 2019 Kansas City Chiefs and the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season. The guy’s apparently good luck.

The most likely scenario is that LA rolls through the preseason with the guys they have (with Henderson not taking a single snap). After everyone does their cut downs to 53, the Rams might snap up someone then that they’re secretly stalked, as they did with Darious Williams at cornerback a few seasons ago.

But, man, I’d love to see Gurley back in the horns.

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