Rams' McVay: Akers to be 'central figure in this offense'

[ROD-BOT]

Rams' McVay: Akers to be 'central figure in this offense'

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay said running back Cam Akers will have a prominent role in the Rams' offense next season."He's really capitalized on a lot of the momentum he built up toward the latter part of the year," McVay told "Mad Dog Sports Radio," according to Cameron DaSilva of...

www.thescore.com

Rams' McVay: Akers to be 'central figure in this offense'​

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay said running back Cam Akers will have a prominent role in the Rams' offense next season.

"He's really capitalized on a lot of the momentum he built up toward the latter part of the year," McVay told "Mad Dog Sports Radio," according to Cameron DaSilva of RamsWire. "And he's going to be a huge part of what we're doing moving forward."

Akers only played in 36% of the Rams' offensive snaps in the first five games. He missed the next two contests due to personal reasons and reportedly had philosophical and football-related differences with McVay.

Los Angeles put Akers on the trade block in October but turned down multiple offers for him.

The Florida State product dressed for the Rams' final 10 games of the season and played all of their offensive snaps in Week 18 against the Seattle Seahawks.

"He's had a great offseason. I love the rapport that he's established with Ron Gould, our new running backs coach," McVay said. "Cam is going to be a central figure in this offense. I think he's priming himself to have a great year.

"I've loved what Kyren Williams has done in that running backs room. But Cam is a stud."

The Rams selected running back Zach Evans in the sixth round of the draft and have second-year Williams on the depth chart.

Akers is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He has 1,664 total yards on 365 touches in 29 career games.

 

[kurtfaulk]

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Coach Speak.

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[oldnotdead]

I don't think it's all coach speak. I think they want to get back to the balance in the offense when they had a strong run attack. With Gurley they had a true bell cow running back. With Akers, Williams and Evans they can spread the load.

Early downs will be Akers, 3rd down passing will probably be Williams who is their best pass blocker and a good receiver. Evans will rotate with Akers to reduce the load.

I expect the passing offense to be more like the 2018 version with layered receivers. With Jefferson, Puka, and Kupp they have a very good trio of receivers. Now add in Higbee and Allen at TE and this offense will roll.

On defense with Young at Leo, AD, and Brown / Murchison in rotation and Hoecht and Mathis in rotation at DE.
ILB Jones and Copeland (early downs) and a 3 safety zone with 2 deep shell. They can play Fuller/Lake middle zone, Yeast and Taylor/Lake deep. Boundary CBs Durant and Hodges-Tomlinson. If Rochell can return to the starting rotation then H-T can move to nickel replacing the 3rd safety.

OC will probably be Shelton with Allen or Jackson playing LG. Noteboom at LT, and Avila at RG. Bruss probably plays swing OT and likely takes over RT next year. The OL is going to be far better than most think. We could see the return of McVay's outside run attack but not exclusively so. With Avila at RG they can run inside behind Avila and Shelton. Inside run may likely be done more by Evans than Akers. Evans is much like Michel who is a strong inside RB. In fact I think we will see Evans used pretty much like they used Michel with Williams to play 3rd down back much like the Chargers used Darren Sproles.

This looks like a 10 or 11 win team this year.

 

[den-the-coach]

He did improve plus with the upgraded offensive line I expect a huge year from Akers because the Rams are going to be running the ball much more this season.

 

[snackdaddy]

It would be nice to see Akers break out. It could go a long way to making them competitive. But before I believe in him I wanna see it actually start to happen. That "philosophical and football-related differences with McVay" concerns me. Why would it get to the point where he was sat down and they tried to trade him? Is he guy that doesn't give 100 percent and pouts when things don't go his way?

 

[dang]

Rams' McVay: Akers to be 'central figure in this offense'

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay said running back Cam Akers will have a prominent role in the Rams' offense next season."He's really capitalized on a lot of the momentum he built up toward the latter part of the year," McVay told "Mad Dog Sports Radio," according to Cameron DaSilva of...

www.thescore.com

Rams' McVay: Akers to be 'central figure in this offense'​

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay said running back Cam Akers will have a prominent role in the Rams' offense next season.

"He's really capitalized on a lot of the momentum he built up toward the latter part of the year," McVay told "Mad Dog Sports Radio," according to Cameron DaSilva of RamsWire. "And he's going to be a huge part of what we're doing moving forward."

Akers only played in 36% of the Rams' offensive snaps in the first five games. He missed the next two contests due to personal reasons and reportedly had philosophical and football-related differences with McVay.

Los Angeles put Akers on the trade block in October but turned down multiple offers for him.

The Florida State product dressed for the Rams' final 10 games of the season and played all of their offensive snaps in Week 18 against the Seattle Seahawks.

"He's had a great offseason. I love the rapport that he's established with Ron Gould, our new running backs coach," McVay said. "Cam is going to be a central figure in this offense. I think he's priming himself to have a great year.

"I've loved what Kyren Williams has done in that running backs room. But Cam is a stud."

The Rams selected running back Zach Evans in the sixth round of the draft and have second-year Williams on the depth chart.

Akers is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He has 1,664 total yards on 365 touches in 29 career games.

McVay sees something special in Akers. He’s stuck with him through the rookie ramp up, fumbles, drama and injury. Barring injury he will get a chance to be a top 5 RB in 2023. Think Dalvin Cook in 2020.

 

[CGI_Ram]

If Akers is going to emerge, it’s all set up for 2023 to be that year.

He should be a super motivated player.

 

[nighttrain]

If Akers is going to emerge, it’s all set up for 2023 to be that year.

He should be a super motivated player.

He has to be super motivated, if he has a bad year his NFL career is most likely over
train

 

[RamFan503]

I'm sure we all would like to see a strong running game. I think that centers more around our O-line and potential improvements there than it does necessarily revolve around Cam. Of course it takes a good back to take advantage of the hopefully upgraded line but that line needs to get far better push this year than we saw last year. I think that is going to show up on both run and pass plays this season. Now we need the injury bug to stay the fuck away.

 

[tempests]

For him to be a central figure, he'll have to show considerable improvement in pass blocking and receiving.

I don't really believe the Rams are going to be running the ball a lot. It's one thing at the end of last season when there were backups all over the field but they have Stafford, Kupp and Van Jefferson back healthy now.

 

[Tumak61]

I think McVay wants to run the ball at times, but Stafford likes to go empty with little to no motion. I think McVay will run it just enough to keep play action effective.

 

[nighttrain]

15 to 20 times a game in Rams offence
train

 

[dpjax]

It makes sense. With all of the inexperience on the defensive side of the ball, they’re going to need to run the ball a lot more this year. And with the momentum from the end of last year, a bigger retooled Oline, two years removed from the injury, and this being a contract year…it’s all lining up for Cam this season.

 

[Kupped]

I have no reason to believe they're not going to run the ball more and that, if he stays healthy, Akers will have a monster year.

 

[blackbart]

Cam was racking up 100+ with a bunch of street FAs and a team going nowhere at the end of last season.

With the changes (health and additions) on the OL I expect him to have a great year. 1500+ yards from scrimmage and looking for a new contract.

He should get a minimum of 15 touches per game to take some pressure off the passing game. LaFleur and Gould I think were brought in to help change that part of the offense. Being more balanced will make them much more dangerous.

 

[Loyal]

I don't understand the enthusiasm for Cam Akers. It must have been from the 2020 season, which I never saw due to personal convictions. I did receive reports from you all on the GDT thread that year, which doesn't translate to enthusiasm for me.

I saw the injured Cam, or rather didn't see him in 2021. He was so-so last year. I can't get excited for him until I see that he can actually be a RB who can carry the team on his back when we need to run the ball. My standard is Marshall Faulk and Cam isn't close to him. Of course having a decent Oline matters, so I guess we'll see....

 

[HE WITH HORNS]

Get as many miles out of him as we can, then let him go after the season. He's very talented, but too inconsistent for a big contract.

 

[simonblaze]

Akers wont be here long term, i'd rather they play Zack and Kyren and get production on their rookie contracts...

 

[Kupped]

Akers wont be here long term, i'd rather they play Zack and Kyren and get production on their rookie contracts...

Akers is still on his rookie contract and has shown the ability to be very successful at the NFL level.

Not sure why people would want the Rams to not use the guy who is, obviously, their best running back.

 

[kurtfaulk]

My standard is Marshall Faulk and Cam isn't close to him.

Your standard is one of the best rbs to ever play the game and if a rb isn't as good as that he's no good? That's a pretty warped sense of standard.

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