The Rams were one of the best rushing teams in the league in 2017 and 2018, but that was certainly not the case last season. Todd Gurley went from two-time All-Pro to a player the Rams took carries away from due to a lingering knee injury, leading to one of his worst seasons in the NFL in 2019.
The Rams cut Gurley this offseason and replaced him with rookie Cam Akers, who a lot of people seem to be high on. He was a workhorse at Florida State behind a terrible offensive line, yet he still managed to rush for at 2,875 yards in three seasons while averaging 4.9 yards per carry.
Pro Football Focus likes his potential and has praised the rookie throughout the offseason, which has continued this week. PFF’s Ben Linsey ranked every starting RB by elusiveness and among the rookies, who were listed separately, Akers was No. 1.
Making people miss wasn’t an added bonus for Akers at Florida State. It was a necessity while running behind one of the worst offensive lines in college football. Comparing college numbers to the NFL is always tricky, but we’ve seen that missed tackle numbers and stats like yards after contact translate well to the NFL. Last season, Akers forced a missed tackle on 32% of his touches and averaged nearly 4 rushing yards after contact per attempt. He’ll likely have to put those skills to use again as a rookie behind a Rams’ offensive line that still has some questions.
Nick Chubb was No. 1 overall among all starters, followed by Josh Jacobs and Derrick Henry. Further down the list at No. 23 was Gurley, only five spots from the bottom of non-rookies.
The Rams hope Akers can create more as a runner than Gurley did, not having to rely on good blocking up front in order to gain yardage. If he can create yards for himself, it’ll go a long way toward masking the Rams’ issues along the offensive line.
