Cam Akers’ situation has been somewhat of a mystery over the last few weeks. He was away from the team for what were originally called personal reasons, and he had his name shopped on the trade market before Tuesday’s deadline.
The Rams couldn’t find a trade partner so on Wednesday, he returned to the facility and met with Sean McVay. After “a good conversation,” as McVay put it, Akers took another step toward staying with the team by suiting up for practice Thursday.
After the walk-through, defensive coordinator Raheem Morris and offensive coordinator Liam Coen shed some light on Akers’ situation. They opened up a little bit more than McVay has, which was refreshing during this ominous time for the team and running back.
Morris said plainly that there was a disagreement with Akers and the Rams’ system, causing Akers to step away from the team for a while. He’s confident Akers and McVay will “mend their differences,” expressing confidence and faith in the third-year running back. He knows Akers has to prove his ability to his teammates and coaches again, however.
“We had a disagreement with Cam and our system, right? He stepped away from the building a little bit and now you gotta invite him back into the fold,” Morris said. “Sometimes you gotta get away from tough situations to go through some adversity to have that ability to come back and shine. Those two will mend out their differences. Obviously, we’ll always talk about everything. When I say everything, we’re talking about everything, I’m talking about Sean, is everything. We’re talking about coaches, we’re talking about players, we’re talking about acquiring players, talking to our own guys and getting our own guys going. We’re always going to talk about those things. 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. And when those things happen, you’re able to pick people back into your environment, you’re able to put people back into what you want to do and my opinion and my dealings with Cam, 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.”
Coen is happy to have Akers back on the practice field, but he was non-committal on what Akers’ role will be in the immediate future. After missing two weeks of practice, plus the bye week, it’s been a long time since Akers was in the fold.
“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. If that’s this week and we can get him turned over both physically and mentally to play on Sunday, great. If not, we’ll continue to see how that situation develops and see where it can go moving forward.”
Coen said the Rams and everyone in their building believe people deserve a second chance, which the team is giving Akers after he left the team. Heading into Week 9, he says everyone is on board.
“I think the players believe and I believe and our staff does that everybody deserves a second chance and whatever the issues are and things that have occurred, if we make a decision to bring somebody back and Cam’s all on board and the players, the staff, everybody’s on board to make that decision,” he added. “It doesn’t just kind of come overnight and decide. So that was something we’ve been talking about and everybody’s on board so see where it goes.”
Like Morris, Coen alluded to “differences” when it comes to Akers’ situation. He knows the coaches have a responsibility to get the most out of their players, but he also made it clear that players must do their jobs, too.
That’s an indication the team wasn’t happy with Akers’ play in the first five weeks of the season, specifically pointing to a lack of creativity. He does know the offensive line and it’s ever-changing rotation of starters has played a role in the running game’s struggles, as well.
“It’s hard when you’re a running back and we’ve had a lot of different moving parts up front and not a ton of success running the football and then some things end up kind of looking at the player, the running back, the O-line,” he said. “Where’s the finger get pointed? At the end of the day, it’s on all of us to get it right and have that continuity we’re looking for as an offense, as a program, as a team, as an organization. I think some differences – I wouldn’t necessarily know if it’s differences, more so, ‘Hey, how do we get the most out of each player and work to their strengths, do exactly what they can do well?’ And also, the player has a lot of responsibility, as well, to perform on Sundays. We ask backs to be creative and do some different things when they are in space or have their ops. I think it’s more just getting him a new opportunity, a little bit of a fresh look on things and we’ll see where it goes.”
Akers is back in the building, but what his role is and how much work he gets on offense remains to be seen – especially in his first week back with the team.
