Rams are 0-2 since deactivating and trading away Cam Akers, 1-0 when he played

The Los Angeles Rams are 0-2 since deactivating Cam Akers from the squad. This was a surprise move the team made after having beaten the Seattle Seahawks, and right before their bout with the San Francisco 49ers. Had the Rams won that game against the 49ers they’d be at worst 2-1. Sean McVay would’ve once again looked like a genius. As unexpected the loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football was, if the Rams were 2-1, that loss would be more forgivable. Losing to the Bengals was tough, but it is losing two in a row that makes the latest loss sting even more. No team wants to lose two in a row.

When the Rams traded away Akers, Kyren Williams had been playing pretty well. I know it was only one game, but he followed up Week 1 with another solid performance in Week 2. He’s been playing fine this year, and some criticism for the team is that fans didn’t see enough Kyren in the team’s latest loss. I wrote this article about Williams last season. I wondered at the time if Kyren was LA’s plan at running back. If they viewed him as a player that could turn their losing season around, or be a player to look forward to. Timing is everything and I seemed to have written that a bit too early. Here we are now though, and Williams has been a player that has brought juice to this team.

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Does McVay have concerns that the team cannot lean on the second year running back one of our writer’s asks? It’s a valid question. As the article points out, Akers had over 20 carries in the Week 1 win over Seattle. If the combination of Williams, Ronnie Rivers, Royce Freeman won’t work, then is Zach Evans going to get a chance? Am I missing any other backs? If LA cannot find a way to have a consistent ground game that will become a problem. That’s not a hot take. The hot take would be to say the Rams don’t need a reliable rushing attack. The good news is it’s early. No real reason to panic, yet. Maybe the team does actually want to trade for Jonathan Taylor or something, so they wanted out of the Akers business.

There are some who wondered if Akers could be as effective after his Achilles injury. He was a second round pick so he clearly had value going into the NFL, but he wasn’t a first round pick either. In a way, a lot of NFL teams passed on him at least once. What does that mean for Akers now? To me it means that he still could have a successful career in the NFL. He’s young, he’s had success in the NFL before. He’s won a Super Bowl and that can have value to franchises. He’s done it before. He knows what it takes and all that. What if the trade works out for the now 24 year old back?

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When the Rams traded him away it did seem to make sense. Apparently there was an issue of a “personality fit” with Cam and the team’s culture. McVay wanted to move on, and he felt he made a decision in the best interest of the team. If the Minnesota Vikings can find success with Akers then this could be a move that doesn’t look so hot for LA’s head coach, Les Snead and more. How likely is that to happen? I don’t know. Consider for your amusement that as it stands, the Rams are 0-2 this season without Akers, and 1-0 when he played. The Vikings didn’t activate Cam last week, but he is expected to play in Week 4. Will Cam the former Ram make a difference as a current Viking? Depending on the logo both teams have horns on their helmet so there’s that.

If the Rams lose to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 4 and the Vikings win in Week 4 then expect to see a follow-up to this very compelling sports story. For now it’s a goofy and maybe funny coincidence. What is real is this trade is a turning point for the Rams, Akers and more. We’ll see which way this story unfolds. Seeing how Akers does could be something to monitor for seasons to come.