Three reasons why so many love LA Rams RB Cam Akers in 2021 FF?

Reason II

The LA Rams have a Todd Gurley like role ready-made in this offense, and the emergence of Cam Akers in 2020 aligns nicely with that role. In the past, the Rams have gone with a featured running back, and used the extra offensive player to mix in a steady diet of either three wide receivers and a tight end, or toss in an occasional two tight-end formations.

The use of one running back allows the offense to pressure defenses’ pass coverage by flooding the secondary with four eligibles off the line of scrimmage, and if the running back runs a pass route, the defense is overwhelmed. Somewhere, a mismatch occus and it is up to the quarterback to find the mismatch and throw the ball in that direction.

Of course, that was not the strong suit of the Rams’ former quarterback Goff. On many occasions, the decision to throw resulted in a short gain, or an occasional ugly and embarassing turnover. It was that tendancy that prompted head coach Sean McVay to change quarterbacks. Now, Stafford must build instant repoire with the Rams running back. So far, everything is working well in the initial sessions of the LA Rams’ training camp.

Now keep in mind that even at his peak usage, the Rams rushed Gurley 250+ times, while generating another 200+ rushes from his teammates. That is merely an average of 15 rushes per game.  Gurley amplified his production by showing up in the passing game as well. In fact, he averaged 84 targets per year from 2017 -2018.  That is a lot of usage in the passing game. Akers was only targeted 17 times. Will he find success as a receiver? Ah, what a great segue into our third reason for loving Akers in Fantasy Football this year…