Cam Akers Poised to Make Significant Impact Against His Former Team
It’s Week 3, and injuries are already starting to take hold on teams across the NFL. The Vikings, for example, will already be down three key contributors for Sunday’s exhibition against the Texans: Jordan Addison, Dallas Turner, and Ivan Pace Jr.
Things don’t appear so different for the opposing club from Houston. Their running back room, including Ex-Viking Cam Akers, is already reeling from injuries to Dameon Pierce, who has already been ruled out for Sunday, and Joe Mixon, who will not travel with the Team after not practicing all week. That leaves the large majority of backfield duties to Akers, who the Texans signed this offseason to their roster after all signs pointed toward his reunion with Minnesota.
Akers is a more than capable back, but with two Achilles tears now on his medical record, teams were a bit hesitant to give him a real opportunity at making their 53-man roster. Akers’ talent has never been an issue, as his burst off the line and speed downfield, alongside his sneaky brand of power running, makes him an enticing prospect for any running back room across the league.
The fifth-year back out of Florida State is still only 25 years old, and while his medical history is a completely justifiable cause for concern amongst teams in the league, he may still have a lot left in the tank.
Akers was selected in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams, with whom he won a Super Bowl in his sophomore season after returning from a torn Achilles in Week 18. He suffered the injury right before training camp, meaning he recovered from a sometimes career-ending setback in just around five months.
Akers had a hard time catching back on in LA, apparently requesting a trade in 2022 before later denying it, and would eventually be traded to the Vikings in 2023, where he was packaged with a 2026 conditional seventh-rounder for a Minnesota 2026 conditional sixth-rounder.
He would only appear in six games with the Vikings, splitting duties with Alex Mattison and Ty Chandler, accumulating only 138 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown on 38 carries. Akers also got some looks in the passing game as well, hauling in 11 passes for 70 yards. Another torn Achilles in the opposite leg from the first during Josh Dobbs’ arrival against the Atlanta Falcons ended his stint with the Vikings in Week 9.
Akers did make some contributions already for the Texans in 2024 in lieu of Pierce, running seven times for 32 yards and one reception for three yards in Houston’s 19-13 Sunday Night Football victory over the Chicago Bears.
It will be interesting to see what Akers does with what appears to be RB1 duties without Joe Mixon and Dameon Pierce available on Sunday. This could very well be his last chance to prove he still belongs in the NFL.
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