While the draft and waivers impact a fantasy football team, nothing else matters if you make the wrong lineup decisions. As managers make the final tweaks to their lineups for Week 3, should you start Los Angeles Rams RB Cam Akers against the Arizona Cardinals in your fantasy football lineup?
Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson Jr. lead a frustrating Rams backfield
“I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them.” — Andy Bernard
Remember when it was nice and relaxing knowing that Sean McVay was going to give his No. 1 running back somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 to 18 touches and that we knew who that would be on any given night? All we had to do was play the matchups. Yeah, so, how do we get back to those “good old days”? Because what we’ve got right now is for the birds.
In Week 1, Akers took a backseat to Darrell Henderson Jr. Akers rushed three times for no yards and watched Henderson record 13 carries, only to hear his head coach put the third-year RB on notice in the media, saying he needed to see more. In that same game against the Bills, Henderson played on 82% of the snaps to Akers’ 18% and led him in rushing share 81% to 13% and routes 13% to zero.
Then we got to Week 2, and it felt like McVay was flipping a coin on who was out there between them. Akers jumped from an 18% snap share to 43% and took the lead in the rushing department (58%). In a far more favorable matchup against the Falcons, Akers rushed 15 times for 44 yards and caught two of three targets for 18 additional yards, ending the week as the RB32.
Sure, his 2.9 yards per carry is rough, to say the least, but 2.67 of that is coming after contact, further giving context to how bad this Rams’ offensive line is this year. What makes this maddening is that Akers didn’t dominate the rushing split as Henderson did the week prior.
He had 10 carries of his own for 46 yards with a score (RB21). He also looked more explosive, averaging 2.8 yards before contact thanks to more off-tackle runs and not just banging him up the gut. This leaves us in a difficult position as Week 3 looms.
Should you start Cam Akers against the Cardinals in your fantasy football lineup in Week 3?
I made it very clear this offseason I was on Team Akers. I thought he would be back and felt there were more positive signs than negatives last year when he returned as soon as he did from his Achilles tear. But then I watched Henderson dominate the rushes in Week 1 and split them in Week 2, which is completely counter-intuitive to McVay’s typical style. So what happens in Week 3?
I feel you can play the matchup here, similar to last week. The season opener was more about how good the Bills are; this week is the Rams’ turn to dominate and remind us why they are defending champions. If Akers is going to break one loose, this is the week to do it.
Arizona has given up the second-highest explosive run rate thus far and is 29th in both second-level yards and open-field yards surrendered per rush. The absence of Chandler Jones has played a significant role in their ability to seal the edge, and that has been felt in both the passing and rushing games.
Like Henderson, Akers is an RB3 this week, coming in as the RB33 in PFN’s fantasy football rankings. Unless he scores or dominates the rushing share, Akers’ ceiling is capped due to his lack of receiving utilization.
Unfortunately, that is where you beat the Cardinals, as they are 32nd in DVOA to receiving backs and, despite sitting 10th in targets, are eighth in yards and tied for the most receiving touchdowns. Of the two, Henderson has more upside, but as a lower-end Flex play, I could see Akers as a fantasy starter due to the matchup. If he bombs, it’ll be the last time we say that.