Los Angeles Rams: 3 options to replace the injured Cam Akers
The Los Angeles Rams now have to deal with a brutal injury to their revamped offense before training camp even gets underway. Tom Pelissero of NFL Network first reported that the Rams’ RB1 Cam Akers suffered an Achilles injury while training and is out indefinitely.
#Rams RB Cam Akers suffered a torn Achilles while training, per source.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 20, 2021
Brutal blow for L.A., which loses its leading rusher from last season a week before camp begins.
There’s no question about it, this injury is a huge shot to the Los Angeles Rams for the 2021 season and certainly nothing they wanted to have to deal with after Akers had a very solid rookie season, including rushing for 625 yards and two scores.
With Akers out of the picture, what are the Rams going to do? The remainder of the depth chart at the running back position includes former third-round pick Darrell Henderson who had almost 800 yards from scrimmage and six total touchdowns last season and a wild card rookie in Jake Funk who figured to be a key special teams guy in his rookie season. Xavier Jones also cracked the Rams’ roster as an undrafted player last year and they have Raymond Calais on the depth chart, too.
Undrafted free agent Otis Anderson also gets a bump here, but the Los Angeles Rams will almost undoubtedly add someone via free agency or trade, but who?
Los Angeles Rams options with Cam Akers out injured
1. Todd Gurley (free agent)
Interestingly enough, Todd Gurley is going to count $8.4 million against the Los Angeles Rams’ salary cap books in 2021 as a dead money hit. Why not try to sign him back now and get at least a little bang for the buck?
Gurley spent last season with the Atlanta Falcons and ran for just 678 yards in 15 games, averaging just 3.5 yards per carry. He still had nine touchdowns for Atlanta and did, to his credit, manage to play in 15 games.
Gurley would not require any compensation in a trade, he is already on the Rams’ books, and he knows the offense as well as the majority of the other players on the roster. He’s still just going to be 27 this season so although there are concerns about his knee (and have been dating back to his days at Georgia) you never know if you’re going to catch lightning in a bottle here.
The fact that Gurley is still available could be somewhat of a godsend for the Rams.