RB Akers sidelined as Rams search for trade

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay said the team has explored the option of finding running back Cam Akers “a fresh new start with another team.”

On Friday, McVay said Akers would not practice for the second day in a row or play in the Rams’ Week 6 game because the team was “working through some different things with Cam.” He was listed on the team’s injury report as out due to personal reasons.

McVay said if trading Akers “doesn’t come to fruition, then we’ll figure out a solution, how to best move forward with him here.” McVay also said he wouldn’t take the possibility that Akers plays for the team again “off the table.”

“I’d like to think I’m a very open-minded person,” he said. “But I think when you look at certain situations and scenarios with the way that things have kind of unfolded, as of right now, I think … the best option for all parties … would be to explore if there’s a good situation for him with another team.

“If that doesn’t come to fruition, I would never say that him coming back and figuring out the best way to be able to utilize him and him be the best player he’s capable of is, is off the table. I would never speak in absolutes like that.”

Akers has 151 rushing yards and a touchdown on 51 carries this season. After he scored a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 3 — his first since the 2020 season — he said he was motivated because “everybody else felt like I lost a step or whatever, but I didn’t.”

McVay said he has thought the communication between Akers and his agent about the situation “has been pretty clear and there’s been good dialogue.”

“Sometimes good dialogue can lead to clarity on making a decision that isn’t necessarily easy, but it’s the best,” McVay said. “… And I’m never going to claim to always make the right decisions, but when you weigh the different things that we’re working through and trying to figure out what’s best for our football team and running back room in particular, that’s kind of the direction that we’re leaning towards right now.”

In Akers’ absence Sunday against the Panthers, running back Darrell Henderson Jr. ran for 43 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries and running back Malcolm Brown added 15 yards on seven carries.

Although McVay acknowledged that a fresh start for Akers may be in the best interests of the team and the player, there’s a real possibility a trade doesn’t get made.

“I will say a lot of these types of discussions go on and nothing comes to fruition,” McVay said. “And then sometimes things happen a lot quicker based on finding someone that accommodates the things that maybe you’re looking for or that suits the interest of the player and our team. And so it just takes one. But in a lot of instances, sometimes things never work out.”