LA Rams running game rebuilding around Cam Akers

LA Rams running game rebuilding around Cam Akers legs

The LA Rams restoration of their running attack officially transitioned from demolition to construction when the team selected Florida State running back Cam Akers with the 52nd pick of the 2020 NFL Draft. But that was several steps into the entire transformation.  In fact, the Rams began to rework their ground attack from the moment the 2019 season ended.

While nobody sat in the meeting rooms, the clues were laid out in a very obvious fashion.  The first signs of a huge transformation began in January 2020 when a reputable football sportswriter, Mike Silva, first broke the rumor that the LA Rams were prepared to part ways with star running back Todd Gurley.  Rather than fade away, the rumors grew in frequency and intensity, eventually focusing upon trading away both Gurley and wide receiver Brandin Cooks.

Coaching changes

Meanwhile, on a separate track, the Rams parted ways with running back coach Skip Peete. Peete was a favorite of Gurley, who lobbied hard to retain his running back coach when the team moved away from Jeff Fisher and hired head coach Sean Mcvay. In his place, the Rams hired on former South Carolina RB coach Thomas Brown.

Without Gurley, the LA Rams faced a shallow stable of running backs: 5-foot-11 222-pound Malcolm Brown, 5-foot-8 208-pound Darrell Henderson, and 5-foot-10 205-pound John Kelly, who combined for just 111 total rushes in 2019 for 411 yards and five touchdowns. Unphased, the Rams made the plunge and parted ways with their lead runner, Todd Gurley.

The first step to restore the running game was not just to add a feature back, but enough talent to allow a redesign of the running attack.  So in addition to 5-foot-10 217-pound Akers, the Rams signed up 5-foot-9 198-pound Kansas State RB James Gilbert and 5-foot-11 208-pound SMU scoring star Xavier Jones.