3 goals LA Rams RB Cam Akers can still achieve in 2022

The LA Rams season is not over just yet. And if you needed reasons to stay involved and interested in the outcomes of the Rams’ final two games, this may be of interest to you. We know that the Rams and veteran running back Cam Akers had a period this season with a bit of a strained relationship.  In fact, Cam Akers sat out two games in November 2022 due to a difference of opinion with LA Rams head coach Sean McVay.

But that all seems to be water under the bridge for the player and the coach right now. In fact, Cam Akers is coming off perhaps the most productive game of his career. While he rushed for more yards against the New England Patriots on December 10, 2020, 171 yards to be exact, he had never had a scoring fest like he did against the Denver Broncos, running the football for three touchdowns as he piled up 118 yards on the ground.

Goal III: Set a career-high in single-season rushing yards.

Okay, so he was out all year in 2021 (save rushing the football five times in the season finale). But after the way the season started for Akers, this is still quite an accomplishment. It is even more impressive when you factor in the LA Rams’ quilt-work offensive line right now that he is running behind.

Akers got started late in the 2020 NFL season but came on strong to end the year with 625 yards on 145 rushes and two touchdowns. This season, Akers has rushed 148 times for 559 yards and seven touchdowns. But after his first six games this year, he had rushed 56 times for 154 yards. Because he had sat out two games, and the BYE, that was the midpoint of the season. He’s come on quite strong since then and needs just 66+ more yards in the last two games to top his rookie season.

Goal II: Set a career-high in total yards from scrimmage

Right in line with the previous goal, Cam Akers has a chance to do better than his impressive rookie season in total yards. Not only did he rush for 625 yards and two touchdowns in his rookie season, but he also added 123 yards and a touchdown as a receiver as well.  So far this year, Akers has added 83 yards through the air. That means he needs to add 40+ more yards through the air in order to set a new personal best in total yards from scrimmage.  That translates into 106+ yards over the next two games.

Keep in mind that we are talking about Cam Akers, a young NFL running back who is coming back from an Achilles Tendon injury suffered in 2021. The fact that he is in a position to challenge his pre-injury numbers is nothing short of miraculous. I believe he is back, and his ability to pick up chunks of yards on the ground could not have come at a better time for the Rams this season.

Goal I: Be the first LA Rams to run for 10 touchdowns since star RB Todd Gurley

The Rams’ offense has struggled on the ground this season. But the late surge of Cam Akers, in which he has scored six touchdowns over just the last four games, suggests that he could be the first running back since Todd Gurley to run for 10 or more touchdowns in a single season. In 2019, even the shadow of his former self Todd Gurley rushed behind a patchwork offensive line for 12 touchdowns that year. While piling on five rushing touchdowns in the last two games is a bit overly optimistic, three rushing touchdowns seem to fall in the range of the 1.5 TDs per game pace that Akers has been on in the past four games.

The LA Rams play the LA Chargers (26th-ranked run defense) and the Seattle Seahawks (31st-ranked run defense) in the final two games. So yes, it does seem to be possible for Akers to break his rookie season record.