It might be unfair to expect Cam Akers to match Todd Gurley at his best. By last year, not even Todd Gurley could do that.
But that won’t stop people from comparing Akers, the Rams’ top draft pick in April, to Gurley, the former NFL Offensive Player of the Year whom the Rams released in March.
The good news is there’s plenty to compare. Watch highlights, and look at stats, from Akers’ three seasons at Florida State. You don’t have to squint too hard to see similarities.
“I feel like we both are complete backs, from the blocking game, catching game and running game. I think we can do it all,” is how Akers summed it up Tuesday in a video chat with reporters.
In case that sounded immodest, Akers later said of Gurley: “I don’t think I’m at the level he’s at yet, but I’m trying to get there.”
Akers started training camp in Thousand Oaks in a competition for carries with second-year Darrell Henderson and sixth-year Malcolm Brown. The trio could form a running-back “committee” when the Rams open the season Sept. 13 against the Dallas Cowboys at SoFi Stadium. But if one becomes the workhorse, it’s likely to be Akers.
The rookie has at least two Gurley-like qualities that endear him to the coaches.
The first is a nose for the end-zone pylons.
Even as his overall production declined, Gurley remained the man coach Sean McVay counted on to cap drives by putting the ball in the end zone. His 14 touchdowns (12 rushing, two on passes from Jared Goff) ranked fifth among NFL running backs in 2019. He led the league in touchdowns from scrimmage the two previous years.
Akers? As a college junior last year, his 1,144 yards rushing ranked 32nd, but his 18 touchdowns (14 rushing, four receiving) ranked 10th among the nation’s running backs.
The second similarity is the talent for catching passes out of the backfield.
At his peak in 2017, Gurley’s 64 catches were fifth and his 788 receiving yards were second among running backs.
Akers? In 2019, he too was as big a receiving threat as rushing threat, his 30 catches (for 225 yards) ranking 22nd among the nation’s running backs.
Being a dual threat is a prerequisite for a running back in a McVay offense. Henderson has it too.
Akers might be a triple-threat, if McVay is serious about designing plays to take advantage of the rookie’s talent as a high-school quarterback as well as running back in Mississippi, where he passed for 3,128 yards and 31 touchdowns and rushed for 2,105 yards and 34 touchdowns as a senior.
Akers says playing quarterback – and even some cornerback – in high school gave him vision of the field that helps him as a running back.
“It helped things slow down, still helping me to this day,” Akers said.
He might have played quarterback in college – he was recruited at that position by three schools, including Auburn – but decided he was too short for the position at 5-foot-10, 217 pounds.
In a double coincidence, one of the college coaches who recruited Akers was Thomas Brown, then the Georgia running backs coach. Georgia is Gurley’s school, and Brown is starting his first season as the Rams’ running backs coach.
“It’s just rolled over and we’re building on that,” Akers said of the relationship with Brown.
He’s bonding with Henderson, whom he played against in high school, and Malcolm Brown, the veteran backup who is embracing the elder-statesman role in the running backs room.
If it turns into running-back-by-committee, Akers said, he’d be comfortable with that.
“Definitely. I just want to do whatever I can to help the team,” he said.
But the Rams drafted him, in the second round with the 52nd pick, as a potential replacement for Gurley. In all of Gurley’s dimensions.
Akers was asked who he emulates. He named Gurley, as well as the Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott, the Minnesota Vikings’ Dalvin Cook and the New Orleans’ Saints’ Alvin Kamara.
“Guys who can block, catch and run,” Akers said. “That’s the type of game I want to have.”
Notes
The Rams waived undrafted rookie defensive back Levonta Taylor (Florida State). Their roster is down to the 80-man training-camp limit if you include linebacker Terrell Lewis, who’s on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. …
Rams players are off Wednesday before resuming training camp Thursday. …
The National Quarterbacks Club announced former Rams Roman Gabriel, James Harris and Kurt Warner – and Doug Williams – will be inducted into the organization’s hall of fame at a dinner Feb. 27, 2021, in Scottsdale, Ariz.
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