Week 1 of the NFL season kicks off with a stellar Thursday Night Football matchup. The defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams host Super Bowl 57 favorite Buffalo Bills. Atop the major questions is whether you should start Rams running back Cam Akers in fantasy football leagues. Akers was ruled “good to go” by Rams head coach Sean McVay. We dive into what that means and what Akers’ fantasy managers can expect from him in Week 1.
Cam Akers’ fantasy outlook against the Bills
McVay’s statement made one thing very clear for the Rams: Akers is the clear RB1 for Los Angeles, even as Darrell Henderson also received the green light to play. Akers returned from a torn Achilles in the playoffs last year but produced only 172 yards on 67 carries. However, the Rams’ decision to play Akers after an incredibly short amount of time showed their faith in his talent.
Ranked 23rd in our expert’s 2022 running back rankings for PPR leagues, Akers is firmly in the mix as a No. 2 RB for a healthy fantasy roster. Even if the Bills pick up where they left off as the NFL’s top-ranked scoring defense, they showed cracks against the run. They allowed the 19th-most rushing yards and sixth-most rushing scores.
The Rams were far from a rushing powerhouse in Matthew Stafford’s first season with the team in 2021. Their offensive line was certainly more geared towards pass protection. But with Andrew Whitworth and Austin Corbett replaced by Joe Noteboom and Coleman Shelton, the run game may be more of a priority with Akers fully recovered.
Fantasy managers can’t bank on Akers being a threat to push triple digits on the ground considering Buffalo’s high-level defense. Adding Von Miller to a unit with Ed Oliver, Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde, and Tremaine Edmunds is a fierce one that could swing the entire league’s outcome this season. But it’s likely the Rams will continue to feature one back as their star and feed him at least 17 touches and red-zone opportunities.
2021’s tandem of Henderson and Sony Michel continued this trend despite both being clearly behind Akers in terms of talent. Henderson had eight games of 13 or more carries. Michel had seven games with 18 or more carries, with exactly zero of those games overlapping each other.
McVay will ride Akers in this contest. Even if it’s ugly, we just need one touchdown from Akers to justify starting him. That’s worth considering, depending on your other options.
Rosters with a strong duo of running backs and Akers as a Flex option could fade the Rams running back for a receiver if the matchup is more favorable for this weekend’s slate of games. In general, it’s hard to identify a lot of receivers that would include since the value of a starting running back who gets close to 20 or more carries is generally so high.
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