LA Rams: Landen Akers, Jeremiah Haydel out to beat the odds

The other Akers, if you please?

For Iowa State Cyclones wide receiver Landen Akers, his most likely path to playing appears to be special teams. The 6-foot-0 190-pound receiver has been clocked in the 40-yard dash time at 4.39-seconds. Akers is also quite adept at route running, can catch the balls that are thrown his way, and has a great burst off the line of scrimmage. In some draft profiles, he has been compared to Minnesota Vikings WR Adam Thielen and Rams WR Cooper Kupp. Perhaps.

Los Angeles Rams

Comparisons in playing style perhaps, but not so much in terms of production. Thanks to a year of grey-shirting (held off Iowa State roster for a season but not due to injury) followed by a year of redshirting, Landen Akers is more mature than the typical rookie. He has even earned his Master’s Degree, Akers emerges from NCAA football at the age of 23.

In four years at Iowa State, he’s caught 38 passes for 593 yards and one touchdown. Akers has all of the attributes for a successful NFL receiver in terms of measurable, but he will need to prove to the Rams coaching staff that he can do the job against NFL competition.

His more likely path to the Rams roster, either via the 53-man roster or the practice squad, is to flash his potential on the Rams special teams. Whether that means returning the football or just speeding down the field in coverage, the more utility he demonstrates to the LA Rams coaching staff, the better.

Why should you learn this player’s name? Anyone with the nickname LAX is worth getting to know.

How can he realistically make the Rams’ roster?  He will need to show up large in more than one preseason game. If he has a strong showing as both a receiver and as a special teams player, that could be enough to earn him a spot on the 53-man roster.

What are his chances? Not good. He’s fighting the obscurity of joining the roster as an undrafted rookie, the bias of low production during his NCAA football career, and the stigma of entering the NFL at 23 years of age. Anything is possible, but he will need to wow someone pretty quickly for positive progress in his NFL career.