What now for Cam Akers? He was among the most disappointing players in Super Bowl LVI.
A few weeks back, Akers looked pretty good to me in the first round of the playoffs, running hard against Arizona. But he followed that up by carrying 24 times for only 48 yards at Tampa Bay. He was a little better against the 49ers, but not great, carrying 13 times for 48 yards. Akers carried 13 times for only 21 yards on Sunday.
Running the ball isn’t a one-man operation, of course. The team’s other running backs weren’t any more effective on Sunday. Darrell Henderson carried 4 times for 7 yards, while Sony Michel got 2 carries and only 2 yards. LA’s offensive line got whipped pretty good, and that’s an area of the team that will need to be addressed in the offseason, especially with Andrew Whitworth likely to retire.
But Akers didn’t stand out as a guy who looks likely to be LA’s clear No. 1 running back for the bulk of the 2022 season. He’s only 7 months removed from an Achilles injury, so it’s impressive that he’s on the field at all; presumably, he’ll have a little more juice next year. But right now, he looks more like a contributor-type guy, rather than a stand out – a player who drop down into a committee or backup role a month or two into the season.
Pass-catching is a key part of the game, and Akers isn’t strong there. He had a 40-yard catch against Arizona, but in his last three games, he’s caught 7 passes for only 36 yards. Henderson was their best pass-catching back in the game Sunday; they’ve were bringing him in and trying to isolate him on downfield routes against linebackers, catching 3 passes for 43 yards – they didn’t try to use Akers on those kind of routes.
For the entirety of the postseason, Akers carried 67 times for 172 yards, averaging under 2.6 yards per carry. Among running backs with at least 50 rushing attempts, that’s the 2nd-worst average in league history. Only 20 other backs in the Super Bowl era (with at least 50 carries) have averaged fewer than 3.5 per attempt.
I would think that when August rolls around, Akers probably will be one of the top 20 running backs on my board, but that’s almost 10 spots lower than what I would have expected a few weeks ago.
| STRUGGLING POSTSEASON RUNNING BACKS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player, Tm | G | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 2008 | Brian Westbrook, Phil. | 3 | 50 | 119 | 2.38 | 0 |
| 2021 | Cam Akers, LAR | 4 | 67 | 172 | 2.57 | 0 |
| 1985 | Walter Payton, Chi. | 3 | 67 | 186 | 2.78 | 0 |
| 2016 | Lamar Miller, Hou. | 2 | 50 | 147 | 2.94 | 1 |
| 1986 | George Rogers, Was. | 3 | 66 | 202 | 3.06 | 1 |
| 2021 | • Elijah Mitchell, S.F. | 3 | 55 | 169 | 3.07 | 1 |
| 1977 | Chuck Foreman, Min. | 2 | 52 | 160 | 3.08 | 1 |
| 1981 | Pete Johnson, Cin. | 3 | 52 | 161 | 3.10 | 2 |
| 2007 | Brandon Jacobs, NYG | 4 | 62 | 197 | 3.18 | 3 |
| 1991 | Thurman Thomas, Buff. | 3 | 58 | 185 | 3.19 | 1 |
| 1992 | Thurman Thomas, Buff. | 4 | 61 | 195 | 3.20 | 1 |
| 2005 | Jerome Bettis, Pitt. | 4 | 56 | 180 | 3.21 | 3 |
| 2000 | Jamal Lewis, Balt. | 4 | 103 | 338 | 3.28 | 4 |
| 1970 | Norm Bulaich, Balt. | 3 | 65 | 215 | 3.31 | 2 |
| 2002 | Michael Pittman, T.B. | 3 | 54 | 182 | 3.37 | 0 |
| 1972 | Larry Brown, Was. | 3 | 77 | 261 | 3.39 | 0 |
| 1979 | Franco Harris, Pitt. | 3 | 62 | 214 | 3.45 | 3 |
| 2017 | Leonard Fournette, Jac. | 3 | 70 | 242 | 3.46 | 4 |
| 1979 | Ricky Bell, T.B. | 2 | 58 | 201 | 3.47 | 2 |
| 1980 | Mark van Eeghen, Oak. | 4 | 72 | 251 | 3.49 | 3 |
| 1976 | Mark van Eeghen, Oak. | 3 | 51 | 178 | 3.49 | 1 |
Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com
—Ian Allan