Los Angeles Rams running back Cam Akers earned the NFL’s respect and admiration after he managed to return from an Achilles injury that causes nearly every player else to miss an entire year.
After undergoing surgery this past July, Akers managed to return at the end of the 2021 season much to the surprise of everyone outside the Rams building. Now fully healthy, Akers is looking to remind fans and the league why he was considered such a talented running back prospect out of college.
It was a slow first two weeks for Akers, but he finally broke out in Week 3 against the Arizona Cardinals when he rushed for 61 yards and a touchdown. It was an impressive performance for him and he declared it was a step toward proving that he’s still himself, via Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:
“Just kind of regular, you know?” Akers said. “Everybody else felt like I lost a step or whatever, but I didn’t. To me, it’s just doing what I do.”
While Akers did lose a fumble near the goal line, head coach Sean McVay maintained his confidence in the young running back:
“That I’m coming right back to you and have all the confidence in the world,” McVay said, when asked what he said to Akers after the fumble. “Let’s learn from it, but you’ve done too many good things throughout this game for that to minimize, when, if we have to go back out on the field in some sort of four-minute situation, he was going to be the guy we were going to lean on.”
Darrell Henderson and Akers had been splitting snaps up until Week 3 when it was clear that McVay had finally decided on giving the latter the lion’s share of the work. If Akers is truly back, then it should help the Rams offense get back to the prolific heights fans are used to seeing.
