The NFL trade deadline arrives with a flurry of moves on Tuesday, but one of the most notable players who wasn’t traded was Rams running back Cam Akers.
The third-year player returned to practice on Thursday after missing the last couple weeks as he was “working on some things.” He reportedly butted heads with coach Sean McVay over “philosophical and football-related differences.”
Despite rumors that Akers wanted to be traded, the running back told reporters on Thursday that he never requested to be traded or released, per The Athletic. He noted he was happy to be back with the team, and some of his teammates said they felt the same.
McVay, though, has stayed mostly quiet about the details of the situation with Akers. However, on Thursday, defensive coordinator Raheem Morris and offensive coordinator Liam Coen opened up to reporters about where the running back currently stands with the team. Morris also provided some background information regarding McVay and Akers’s disagreements.
“We had a disagreement with Cam and our system, right?” Morris said, via Rams Wire. “He stepped away from the building a little bit and now you gotta invite him back into the fold. Sometimes you gotta get away from tough situations to go through some adversity to have that ability to come back and shine.
“We drafted Cam for a reason. We believe in him. He can run the football, he can make people miss, and he’s gotta get back to doing that and he’s got to prove it again to his teammates and he’s gotta prove it again to his coaches. ... I think he’s got all the best intentions for the football team and himself that a human can have. So let’s give him another chance, especially when he’s yours.”
The offensive coordinator did not know what Akers’s role on the team will be now that he’s back with the team. Coen said that the running back will need to be caught up with the team in order for them to feel comfortable with him getting back on the field in just three days.
“Glad to have him back and just see where he’s at,” Coen said. “It’s been a little while obviously since he’s practiced and been in all the installs and those kind of things. Glad to have him back, hopefully we can get him going.”
Akers’s status for Los Angeles’s Sunday matchup with the Buccaneers is still unknown.
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