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Saints Could End Up Having Steal Of Offseason
Oct 30, 2022; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; General view of the New Orleans Saints logo as the midfield logo fleur-de-lis after the game between the New Orleans Saints and the Las Vegas Raiders at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

The New Orleans Saints brought a new playmaker to town on Friday.

New Orleans' running back room is led by Alvin Kamara and behind him the team has had Kendre Miller and 2025 sixth-round pick Devin Neal. The Saints added another playmaker into the mix to help on Friday with 25-year-old running back Cam Akers.

Akers is a former second-round pick and showed some star power as a member of the Los Angeles Rams. He had 625 rushing yards as a rookie in 13 games in 2020. He missed pretty much the entire 2021 season. Akers returned to action in 2022 and had the best season of his career so far with 786 rushing yards in 15 games, although he made just nine starts. He was a touchdown machine and had seven touchdowns that season and was a big part of the Super Bowl-winning roster.

The 2023 season wasn't kind to him and he bounced back in 2024 and showed flashes again. He appeared in all 17 games last year split between the Minnesota Vikings and Houston Texans and had 444 rushing yards on 104 attempts. He averaged 4.3 yards per attempt, which was actually tied for the best mark of his career.

This is a guy Saints fans should be excited about now. Kamara clearly is the lead back. As training camp approaches, we'll likely see Miller, Neal and Akers duke it out for opportunities in 2025. There was a time when Akers looked like a potential future star with the Rams. If he earns an opportunity in 2025 with the Saints, there's a real chance he and Kamara could be a scary duo.

More NFL: Saints Signing: New Orleans Adding Super Bowl Starter


This article first appeared on New Orleans Saints on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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