NFL’s Most Overrated/Underrated Players: Cam Akers

NFL’s Most Overrated/Underrated Players: Cam Akers

Going into the 2022 season, many NFL and fantasy football pundits tabbed Cam Akers as a breakout candidate. He had a relatively strong rookie year in which he flashed signs of being a premier RB. An Achilles tear in 2021 sidelined him for practically the entire season, although he did shock the football world when he returned for a Week 18 game against the 49ers just five months after the injury.

And with a full offseason to further recover and being in a Sean McVay-led system, all the signs pointed towards a huge Akers breakout season. But just five games into the season, Akers isn’t living up to the hype and may have been overrated by the NFL media.

The worry started after a Week 1 game in which Akers was only given three carries for zero yards. He also was nonexistent out of the backfield totaling zero catches or even targets. While many people were worried about this, the game was excused on the account of him still working his way back into the offense.

But since that season-opening dud, it’s continued to be a downhill trend for the once highly touted running back. Aside from a decent outing in Week 5, Akers is yet to amass more than 3.0 yards per carry in a game, and on the season, he’s averaging just that, 3.0 YPC.

The other key issue has been his lack of receiving work. Through five weeks he has a measly two receptions for 18 yards on only five targets. And in an offense as dynamic as McVay’s, this raises some pretty big red flags.

The other issue has been simply that Akers is barely seeing the field. His highest snap share percentage has been in Week 3 in which he saw the filed 50 percent of the time. Outside that game, his highest snap share percent has been 44 percent. And its only getting worse as it’s dropped from 38 percent to 31 percent this past week.

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Whether it’s still unknown health issues or just a lack of faith from the coaching staff, it’s clear that Akers isn’t a vocal point of this offense and won’t be anytime soon. And being a part of a running back class that features D’Andre Swift, Jonathan Taylor, and Clyde Edwards-Helaire, time is clearly running out for Akers to make a name for himself in this league.

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