Rams HC Sean McVay: 'Cautious optimism' RB Cam Akers could return for playoffs
Los Angeles Rams running back Darrell Henderson is currently 10th in rushing yards with 417 yards on 96 carries. Unlike eight of the other players within the top 10, Henderson wasn't even supposed to be his team's starting running back this season -- Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson being the other exception on the list -- as it took a Cam Akers' torn Achilles in July to open the door for Henderson.
Rams head coach Sean McVay told Jourdan Rodrigue that Akers could possibly return to the field if the team makes the playoffs.
"You don't want to be presumptuous, but if we are able to make the playoffs and give ourselves a chance to play after (the regular season), the expectation is that Cam would be available to play," McVay said. "He's on track to do that. He was running at 80 percent body weight at 10 miles per hour pretty effortlessly, and from the cameras that I saw last week that are kind of right behind his feet on the treadmill, unless you saw the scar you wouldn't notice any sort of hitch in his giddy-up on that. He's attacking the rehab the right way."
Although they currently trail the 7-0 Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West at 6-1, the Rams are in great shape to make the postseason for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
After being selected 52nd overall by the Rams in the 2020 NFL Draft, Akers saw limited action through the team's first 11 games as he split time with Henderson and Malcolm Brown in the backfield. Starting with the team's Week 13 win against the Cardinals, though, Akers would take over as the primary ball carrier and earn over 60% of the offensive snaps in seven of the final eight games of the year, including the playoffs (Akers was inactive in Week 16).
Akers' coming out party was in week 14 against the New England Patriots, as the Jackson, Mississippi native erupted for a career-high 171 rushing yards on 29 carries. Over the team's pair of playoff games, Akers recorded 221 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns on 46 carries.
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