5 reasons why LA Rams rookie RB Akers is ideal featured back

Reason 2 – Fresh legs

One of the biggest factors in the LA Rams search for a running back successor from the college ranks in the 2020 NFL Draft was a low wear-and-tear history on the running back’s legs. Not surprisingly, Cam Akers experienced a very light workload in college.

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Florida State running back Cam Akers carried the ball just 586 times in college. That is spread over three seasons of college football.  Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor, also a three-year rushed, handled the ball a whopping 926 times. Two-year rushers D’Andre Swift handled the ball 440 attempts and Clyde Edwards-Helaire handled the ball 370 attempts. Akers had not-too-much and not-too-little carries in college, which made him the ideal prospect.

In Akers, the Rams get the right mix of experience but fresh legs, which they emphasized mightily in this selection. That’s a huge reason why the Rams jumped to select a running back so quickly in the 2020 NFL Draft.  The Rams were looking for more than any rusher to swell their running back room.  With three running backs off the board, the team risked losing Akers to another NFL team. While Zack Moss, AJ Dillon, and Darrynton Evans were still on the board, they either had far more carries, far less pass-catching ability, or both.

Whoever becomes the LA Rams running back will be responsible for 25-30 percent of that offense. While the team has confidence enough to assume heavy play use or injury history at some positions, the running back of the LA Rams future needed to have a clean bill of health and plenty of mileage left. Akers was ideal and became the must-pick at 52.