Akers

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The Rams turned down multiple offers for Cam Akers before the deadline and are now hoping he'll play for them again this season, per Tom Pelissero https://t.co/C1VRJHYdcM

— Cameron DaSilva (@camdasilva) November 2, 2022

What to know about Rams’ ongoing situation with RB Cam Akers, what comes next

Jourdan Rodrigue

https://theathletic.com/3756591/2022/11/02/rams-cam-akers-sean-mcvay/?source=emp_shared_article

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — The trade deadline came and went, and there is continued uncertainty about the status of running back Cam Akers on the Rams’ roster.

A person with knowledge of the Rams’ trade conversations who was not authorized to speak publicly said the Rams received no legitimate offers (i.e., no realistic offers) for Akers before the deadline.

However, coach Sean McVay said that he, Akers and Akers’ agent, David Mulugheta, had a “really good conversation” Wednesday morning, during which Akers affirmed he would like to remain a part of the team.

“We’re working through a couple of different options,” McVay said. Because Akers cannot now be traded, if he isn’t a part of the team later, it would be because he was released.

“After we had that conversation, got a couple of different things that are some options that we can potentially do moving forward, and we’ll have clarity on that as far as getting him back (and) working with this group or if that means exploring other avenues,” McVay said. “Want to be able to explore that first one first (and) let him be able to digest some of the things that we discussed, work through that with his family … and then we’ll see what the next step is.”

The Rams first held Akers out of practice on Thursday, Oct. 14, citing “personal reasons,” and they have held him out of practice and games since. McVay, who initially called the situation an “internal” matter, later publicly confirmed the Rams were working to trade Akers.

Multiple people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly characterized it as an ongoing difference in opinion on several matters, including the overall philosophy and direction of the run game, the frequency of use for the running backs/the frequency of called runs in general, and that Akers and the Rams had simply not been on the same page since late in training camp.

These people did not know of any one particular interaction or event that served as a tipping point for the situation, which they also said did not feel hostile on either side and more so was a mutual disagreement.

“The one thing that I think is good about some of these discussions that can take place is when you get a chance to reflect on it, you can be honest about where you could do (things) differently — talking about myself, some of the expectations — and there’s a lot of confidence, there’s a lot of belief in the human being Cam Akers,” McVay said Wednesday. “You don’t want to jump to conclusions just based on a couple of things where nobody was necessarily at fault but it could have been handled better, and I always look at myself first and foremost.”

Akers did not practice Wednesday, but McVay did not rule out his availability for the Rams on Sunday against Tampa Bay.

Though all sides are hopeful for a mutual and positive resolution, two people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly said it had been simmering quietly since the middle-to-late portion of training camp.

Akers missed multiple days of training camp with what the team called a “soft tissue injury” (NFL teams are not required to produce official injury reports during camp), including the Rams’ joint practices with the Cincinnati Bengals before their preseason matchup. Akers and running back Darrell Henderson, who the Rams said was also working through a soft tissue injury, traveled with the team to Cincinnati but did not practice.

Both players returned to practice on the same day: Aug. 29.

A day after a Week 1 loss to Buffalo, McVay issued a rare direct comment about a player’s performance, saying he wanted to see an “increased level of urgency and accountability snap in and snap out” from Akers. During the regular week of media availability that followed, Akers conveyed surprise at his usage in the Bills game and acknowledged that McVay had shared that sentiment about urgency with him during training camp.

Over the next few weeks, McVay publicly expressed frustration with his offense in the Rams’ bottom-of-the-league run game.

“It starts with being able to … everybody do their job and then be able to create a little bit. We’ve got to be able to sometimes get more than what the play is blocked for,” he said after the loss, during which the Rams rushed for only 38 net yards. “Then we can’t have free runners, we can’t have guys into the backfield with penetration. … It (has) been a challenge, and it’s something that has really hurt us.”

Contextually, the Rams also have faced a barrage of injuries along their offensive line. In seven games, they have had to start seven iterations of their offensive line, including a third-string center who had never previously snapped to quarterback Matthew Stafford, and their fifth right guard.

Because Akers has not been on-site, he has not been available in a locker room setting to speak publicly about his perspective of the situation.

Akers was drafted in the second round in 2020 within a longer-term plan by the Rams to develop him into a feature back similar to those McVay has had in his offense previously. As the 2020 season began, then-rookie Akers showed promise in tandem with the more veteran Henderson, whom the Rams hoped to feature in a versatile third-down role. Akers suffered a ribs cartilage injury in Week 2 when several bodies landed on him after a carry and the pointed end of the football stuck him between the ribs (an injury that takes a while to heal but from which Akers returned after a couple of weeks). In Week 15, Akers suffered a high ankle sprain but returned to rush for 221 yards and two touchdowns in two playoff appearances.

A week before training camp in 2021, Akers tore his Achilles while working out away from the Rams’ facilities. He underwent a cutting-edge procedure called “internal bracing,” performed by Rams head surgeon Neal ElAttrache, followed by a grueling rehabilitation plan. Akers returned to the Rams’ active roster just 5 1/2 months after the initial tear — a historic recovery for an NFL player with that injury — and was active in the postseason for their Super Bowl run.

When Akers returned full-time in 2022, the Rams’ vision for their running backs seemed to have changed. McVay appeared ready to move away from a single-back workload and into a committee to present more looks to a defense in the run and pass game, with Akers and Henderson in both phases. The running backs room had also undergone several personnel changes: The team had decided not to re-sign veteran back Sony Michel, leaving Henderson as the most veteran player in the room. After moving previous running backs coach/assistant head coach Thomas Brown into a more prominent role in the passing game as tight ends coach, the Rams hired Ra’Shaad Samples to coach the running backs. This meant that Samples, widely considered an up-and-coming young coaching talent, was taking on his first NFL position. The Rams also changed offensive coordinators entering 2022 with their hire of Liam Coen in the spring.

Between issues along their offensive line and their overall inconsistency at running back (which at times has been due to health), the Rams have struggled for multiple seasons to establish an identity in their run game. Monday, McVay reacted to a question about what the point would be for the Rams to deeply evaluate all aspects of their run game, from personnel selection and development to health and on-field product.

“There’s kind of been an overhaul on what we thought we’d be able to operate with philosophically,” he said. “Everything is on the table. … It hasn’t been good enough. I take a lot of responsibility in that, but there’s been a whole lot of moving parts that have contributed to that. The answer is ‘yes,’ everything is up for discussion, and it hasn’t gone the way that we wanted. There’s a lot of reasons for it, none of which are anything other than an excuse. But these are things that we’re dealing with.”

In the short term, the Rams will explore their remaining options: to try to work it out with Akers or release him. That decision might come quickly.

“Basically … we’ve talked about a couple of different options. Wanted to be able to give him an opportunity to weigh that with his family and with his representation, and then we’ll circle back later on this afternoon and see what the next move is,” McVay said Wednesday, “whether that’s continuing to move forward with the Rams or if you explore giving him an opportunity to be able to see what that looks like with another team.”