The Rams opened the 2023 NFL season with Cam Akers as their starting running back.
Fast forward to Week 3 and Akers isn’t even with the team anymore.
The Rams made Akers inactive for in Week 2 as the team looked to find the running back a new home. That was something they had failed to do in 2022, but they renewed the search after Akers had a lackluster season debut.
This time, the Rams were able to find the taker.
Here’s what to know about Cam Akers’ absence from the Rams and why Los Angeles was willing to move on from him so early in the season.
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Where is Cam Akers?
Akers is no longer with the Rams. They traded him to the Vikings ahead of Week 3 as part of an early-season deal.
Akers played in the opener for Los Angeles but mustered just 29 yards on 22 carries. Now, he will get a chance to play for the Vikings and coach Kevin O’Connell, who worked with Akers during their time together with the Rams.
All the Rams are getting in exchange for Akers is a conditional swap of late-round picks in 2026.
MORE: Full details of the Cam Akers trade between the Rams and Vikings
Why did the Rams trade Cam Akers?
Many will wonder exactly why the Rams were willing to move off Akers so quickly into his fourth season with the team. A multitude of factors went into the decision.
First and foremost, Akers wasn’t particularly productive for the Rams. He generated just 29 yards and a score on 22 carries in the opener. And since tearing his Achilles and missing most of the 2021 NFL season, Akers has averaged a meager 3.8 yards per carry.
While second-year back Kyren Williams’ yards-per-carry average over the last two seasons also stands at just 3.8 yards per carry, he looked more explosive against the 49ers in Week 2 than Akers did against the Seahawks in Week 1. As such, the Rams were willing to give the second-year back a heavier workload, and that came at the expense of Akers.
Akers could have been given a backup job, but with just the 2023 NFL season left on his contract, it makes sense that the Rams would look to move on from him. They don’t have a lot of depth at the position, but they have enough to get by.
And Akers’ expandability was complicated by his relationship with the team. It hasn’t been a great one over the last two seasons, as he and coach Sean McVay have often been on different pages.
For example, McVay said that he was “surprised” by Akers’ social media post claiming that he was surprised by his benching against the 49ers. Akers was rendered an inactive coach’s decision for that contest.
“I feel very good about the clarity that was provided to him on Friday and Saturday, both through he and [agent] David Mulugheta,” McVay said, per ESPN. “And that’s unfortunate, but I feel like it was very clear in regards to our dialogue.”
This latest incident came a year after the running back spent about a month away from the team as McVay and Co. looked to get the running back “a fresh new start with another team.” So it simply appeared like the rocky marriage and mutual distrust of one another ultimately whittled away the relationship between the running back and his coach.
Add in that Akers’ contract is expiring after the season and there were few reasons for the Rams to keep Akers around.
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Rams RB depth chart
The Rams currently have three running backs on their active roster and one of their practice squad. Here’s a look at how their depth chart should shake out in the coming weeks.
1. Kyren Williams
Williams is the biggest beneficiary of Akers’ departure, as he should handle most of the workload in the Los Angeles backfield moving forward. He ran for a league-best four touchdowns in his first two games of the season, but he has averaged just 3.8 yards per carry during his two-year career to date.
That said, Williams’ 52 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries against a strong 49ers defense were impressive. He showed good burst and vision, so the fifth-round pick out of Notre Dame in the 2022 NFL Draft should get a chance to be a three-down back for the Rams moving forward.
2. Ronnie Rivers
Rivers is another second-year player who will be in for an increased role in Akers’ absence. The Fresno State product went undrafted in 2022 but found his way onto the team’s 53-man roster and slowly moved up the depth chart.
Rivers has just nine career carries for 21 yards, so it remains to be seen whether he can become an effective runner at the NFL level. He will likely be used to spell Williams moving forward, but it’s hard to imagine him becoming much of a fantasy factor barring an injury to Williams.
3. Zach Evans
Evans is the third-string running back on the Rams roster, but he has a lot of upside. The sixth-round rookie hasn’t yet been active for an NFL game, but he racked up 1,055 scrimmage yards and 10 touchdowns in his lone year at Ole Miss in 2022. His production was solid, and his skill set is even better.
Evans was considered a five-star recruit for the Class of 2020 and became the first five-star player to go to TCU after he was released from his National Letter of Intent by Georgia for violating his high school team’s cell phone rules. He never quite lived up to his full potential in college, but the 5-11, 202-pound back has the shiftiness and speed needed to become a quality NFL running back.
He may get to try his hand at doing that now with Akers out of the way. But first he will need to be active on game day, something he hasn’t done yet during his brief NFL career.
4. Royce Freeman
Freeman has hung around the NFL since being a third-round pick of the Broncos back in 2018. The Oregon product has appeared in 66 games and has logged 1,993 scrimmage yards and nine total touchdowns over the last five-plus seasons.
Currently, Freeman is on the practice squad, but he could be a game-day call-up for the Rams if they need more experience for their young running back room. That said, Freeman has averaged just 3.7 yards per carry and hasn’t scored a touchdown since 2019, so the team shouldn’t expect too much from him.
