Los Angeles Rams running back Cam Akers will miss the entire 2021 season with a torn Achilles. Akers suffered the injury while working out this offseason the Rams announced Tuesday morning. While the team has yet to provide an official timeline, similar injuries have sidelined athletes anywhere from 4-12 months in the past.
The 2nd year pro was expected to handle the bulk of the touches in the Los Angeles backfield this season. Akers was ranked as RB 9, and the 11th overall positional player heading into the 2021 season by Yahoo Sports.
Fantasy players were optimistic that Akers could provide solid RB1 production following a rookie campaign where he averaged 113.1 yards from scrimmage over the final 7 games of the season. The 22-year old did have some injury concerns heading into the 2021 campaign after suffering rib/ankle injuries at various points throughout 2020. However with injuries like this, no one can predict how/when they could occur.
While this is obviously terrible news for the former Florida St. Seminole, it also throws a wrench into the LA offense which is now without a clear cut starter in the backfield. Whether the team decides to stay in house, or seek a veteran presence to step in and replace Akers remains to be seen.
Los Angeles currently has Darrell Henderson Jr, Xavier Jones, Jake Funk, and Raymond Calais as options at tailback. Henderson appears to be the frontrunner to absorb most of the touches previously earmarked for Akers for the time being, though how appealing he is as a fantasy option over the course of an entire season remains to be seen.
The Rams open their training camp on July 28th at the University of California, Irvine. Barring a trade or signing happening between now and then, this now becomes one of the more intriguing positional battles to monitor in the lead up to the season.
With the Rams high powered offense, and a defense that can force turnovers seemingly at will, whomever emerges as the bell cow in LA will have obvious fantasy value. The question remains whether Sean McVay and Co. elect to go with bonafide number 1 option, or introduce the dreaded running back-by-committee approach.
If your league is slated to draft in the coming weeks, this is a situation worth avoiding if possible. However if you have a wise commissioner who doesn’t schedule the draft until after final cuts have been made, then you could do worse than having a vested interest in Rams depth chart reports between now and September.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner