Bad news from Los Angeles as Tom Pelissero reported:
#Rams RB Cam Akers suffered a torn Achilles while training, per source.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 20, 2021
Brutal blow for L.A., which loses its leading rusher from last season a week before camp begins.
This morning before the news, this is how we had projected the entire Rams offense for 2021.
In our Detailed Stat Projections for players, we had Akers as the RB14 in PPR scoring formats. The obvious player to move up the boards will be Darrell Henderson, In our recent article about "Injury Away" running backs who could excel if given the chance, our Jordan McNamara said this about Henderson: "Much of the buzz about the Rams backfield is centered on second-year player Cam Akers. While Akers should lead the backfield, Henderson represents a cheap poker chip on what could be an elite offense in 2021." You can see the full article here.
We had Xavier Jones slotted behind Henderson and Jones will most certainly get his chances as well. He suddenly becomes very interesting.
Our Sigmund Bloom had this as a first take:
Cam Akers injury is a blow to the Rams offense, but not necessarily one that they can't overcome. Darrell Henderson is one of the more talented backups in the NFL, and while his ADP won't get to the late first/early second-round level Akers was settled at, Henderson will likely cost a fourth-round pick, if not a third, as he'll be set up to be the primary back in the Rams offense.
2020 UDFA Xavier Jones becomes the de facto #2 with a huge opening for their seventh-round pick, Jake Funk, to not just make the team, but contribute in Year 1. The team also has Tampa's 2020 seventh-round pick Raymond Calais and 2021 UDFA Otis Anderson on the roster right now, but they are scatback types who won't figure into the bread and butter running game.
Sean McVay could call up Todd Gurley to give the team veteran depth that is familiar with the offense, or kick the tires on someone like Adrian Peterson, Le'Veon Bell, or Frank Gore. If they don't sign a veteran back before or during camp, they should still be in the market for a back released at final cutdowns or to make a minor trade with a team that needs to lose a back to satisfy the numbers game to get to their final 53.
The Rams don't have enough experience on the roster to feel good about going into the season with their current running back depth chart, but whoever they add shouldn't be a threat to Henderson's value. They could usurp the backup job in short order, so whatever value Jones and company have now could be temporary.
We'll have lots more on this tonight in the Email Update and of course on the site. If you'd like to dive deep with everything we do at Footballguys, please check out the Premium Subscriptions where we give you everything we've got to help you win more at fantasy football. As always, there's a 30-day moneyback guarantee so there's zero risk.