Cam Akers Official Thread

[Cameron Giles]

I know this thread is full of people who don’t own Akers and hate Akers, but as a person who does like Akers and owns Akers he won me several championships last year. He played well both in fantasy and real life. One game with a bad ypc on a team that hates his guts and now he’s terrible. Idk how well he’s going to do going forward but he played well last season. This “Akers is bad and always was bad” narrative is false imo.

He went from this in June:

He’s really capitalized on a lot of the momentum he built up toward the latter part of the year. And he’s going to be a huge part of what we’re doing moving forward,” McVay said on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio. “Cam is going to be a central figure in this offense. I think he’s priming himself to have a great year.”

McVay also added, “Cam is a stud. He’s taking great care of himself physically, he’s in a good place mentally. Just continuing to mature, and I’m really excited about what he’s going to do for us this year.”

To this

“I was told that Sean had a conversation with him on the field after practice on Friday and let him know that his fit with this team doesn’t work and he doesn’t fit. The personality in the locker room isn’t in sync with what they expect from their players...I just don’t think this has worked well from a personality standpoint mixing with what McVay wants to do and what he expects from these players. This is a team that I don’t believe thought they were going to have the success that they’ve had already...Now they see that they got something good. They’ve got potential here. There’s no reason to hold on to warts that could create problems later on in the season.”

To being given away for a conditional late round pick swap in a draft that's three years away.

Keep in mind Akers was still listed as RB1 going into the opener. I don't think the coach hates him is the entirety, when Akers may have legitimately just been doing things in practice that didn't fly with the coaching staff.

Not an awful player, though it's fair to wonder if he's a desirable/coveted or effective one. If this trade is a sign of how he could be viewed as a FA next year, then it's not looking good.

[Anteaters]

Rashaad Penny helped me win a championship too once upon a time

The difference is Penny is worth nothing right now and Akers is soon to be a starting RB in the NFL. But I guess you were just being sarcastic and I'm being pedantic, so excuse me if I missed a pertinent point you were making.

[Two Cents]

I think the point being made is that when it mattered in fantasy Cam Akers produced AFTER his injury.

And before anyone says his games didn't matter....the Seahawks were still in the playoff hunt and so were the Chargers.

57-287-2 for a 5.0 ypc in those 3 games with playoff caliber teams down the stretch last season POST INJURY on a team that had no Stafford or Kupp vs teams that had everything to lose. Point being....lets stop saying its not possible for him to produce. It is very possible. Now whether or not he is motivated is a different issue. The thing about fantasy that you can never really predict is effort and motivation. Im almost positive that Cam Akers effort level and opportunity level will heavily increase as this season progresses with this new opportunity. I don't have proof of why I believe that aside from the knowing that he has an ego, he was just traded for nothing, and he will want every chance to prove people wrong and earn a second contract with this new team. I already have every reason to believe that his opportunity level will change - pedigree, previous production, little competition. Motivated, and on a good team, I think he can produce like he did down the stretch last season. He might even perform like that down the stretch THIS SEASON.

[Sriracha]

I know this thread is full of people who don’t own Akers and hate Akers, but as a person who does like Akers and owns Akers he won me several championships last year. He played well both in fantasy and real life. One game with a bad ypc on a team that hates his guts and now he’s terrible. Idk how well he’s going to do going forward but he played well last season. This “Akers is bad and always was bad” narrative is false imo.

I own a disgusting amount of Akers and have been a major proponent for him throughout his career. I turned down massive trade offers for him when he initially came back from the Achilles injury because I was such a strong believer in his talent and I'd like nothing more than for him to finally show out in MIN.. but I'm pretty pessimistic at this point.

The guy still has above average straight line burst but I just don't see the lateral ability that made him special coming into the league. Even post Achilles he's a much better athlete than Mattison so I do see a possibility of him becoming the lead back here but even if he does I'd be looking to sell high on him the moment he looks to have a pulse.

[Valhalla]

John Skelton helped me win once. Or at least…he didn’t do so poorly to cost me one.
What’s the point? I care about who has the more favorable chance to help me win in the future.

[mild]

Rashaad Penny helped me win a championship too once upon a time

The difference is Penny is worth nothing right now and Akers is soon to be a starting RB in the NFL. But I guess you were just being sarcastic and I'm being pedantic, so excuse me if I missed a pertinent point you were making.

I honestly don't think Akers is walking into anything better than a 50/50 split - and probably worse.

[Dynasty DeLorean]

I think the point being made is that when it mattered in fantasy Cam Akers produced AFTER his injury.

And before anyone says his games didn't matter....the Seahawks were still in the playoff hunt and so were the Chargers.

57-287-2 for a 5.0 ypc in those 3 games with playoff caliber teams down the stretch last season POST INJURY on a team that had no Stafford or Kupp vs teams that had everything to lose. Point being....lets stop saying its not possible for him to produce. It is very possible. Now whether or not he is motivated is a different issue. The thing about fantasy that you can never really predict is effort and motivation. Im almost positive that Cam Akers effort level and opportunity level will heavily increase as this season progresses with this new opportunity. I don't have proof of why I believe that aside from the knowing that he has an ego, he was just traded for nothing, and he will want every chance to prove people wrong and earn a second contract with this new team. I already have every reason to believe that his opportunity level will change - pedigree, previous production, little competition. Motivated, and on a good team, I think he can produce like he did down the stretch last season. He might even perform like that down the stretch THIS SEASON.

Thanks, that pretty much sums up what I was trying to say. Many people are responding as if I said "Akers was good down the stretch last year, therefore he will be good this year". And that's not what I said at all.

[FantasyFreak]

Rashaad Penny helped me win a championship too once upon a time

The difference is Penny is worth nothing right now and Akers is soon to be a starting RB in the NFL. But I guess you were just being sarcastic and I'm being pedantic, so excuse me if I missed a pertinent point you were making.

The point was that Penny, who had short stretches of huge production, helped him to win a title, but it doesn't mean he's a guy who'll have any long terms success. Penny, was actually pretty damn good, and super efficient. He was never able to stay healthy.

[FantasyFreak]

Rashaad Penny helped me win a championship too once upon a time

The difference is Penny is worth nothing right now and Akers is soon to be a starting RB in the NFL. But I guess you were just being sarcastic and I'm being pedantic, so excuse me if I missed a pertinent point you were making.

I honestly don't think Akers is walking into anything better than a 50/50 split - and probably worse.

Tough to say. I mean, I certainly don't expect him to walk into a big role. He'll have to earn it, but his struggles as a pass protector on a pass heavy offense lead me to believe you are correct. I think it's likely a committee that doesn't bear any fruit for FF.

Mattison better run like his hair is on fire this week, because week 4, Akers will be active. I don't think either of these backs are that good, I thought Mattison would have been better, and his off season value being the lead back was likely the time to sell, but I have to admit I thought he'd look a bit better, although I don't think he's all that special. Seems the run game is more of a thing they do to keep D's honest, right now, and the game is geared heavily towards their pass attack, where the real talent is on their offensive positions.

[Anteaters]

Mattison better run like his hair is on fire this week, because week 4, Akers will be active. I don't think either of these backs are that good, I thought Mattison would have been better, and his off season value being the lead back was likely the time to sell, but I have to admit I thought he'd look a bit better, although I don't think he's all that special.

That's the most urgent thing for Mattison. Another blah week and he'll become the mop-up player again. For his sake, I hope he shows out this week.

[Cameron Giles]

Rashaad Penny helped me win a championship too once upon a time

The difference is Penny is worth nothing right now and Akers is soon to be a starting RB in the NFL. But I guess you were just being sarcastic and I'm being pedantic, so excuse me if I missed a pertinent point you were making.

Akers isn't worth anything right now either. He was just traded for a conditional 2026 7th/6th round pick swap.

I think Penny's career point is a strong likelihood for Akers unless he significantly reverses course in Minnesota. He's headed towards a one year contract in FA next summer in some sort of 2-3 RB committee.

[Anteaters]

Rashaad Penny helped me win a championship too once upon a time

The difference is Penny is worth nothing right now and Akers is soon to be a starting RB in the NFL. But I guess you were just being sarcastic and I'm being pedantic, so excuse me if I missed a pertinent point you were making.

Akers isn't worth anything right now either. He was just traded for a conditional 2026 7th/6th round pick swap.

I think Penny's career point is a strong likelihood for Akers unless he significantly reverses course in Minnesota. He's headed towards a one year contract in FA next summer in some sort of 2-3 RB committee.

I was speaking about fantasy value, not NFL value. it's always tricky to try to figure out NFL value. According to the trade market, Lamar wasn't worth trading for, and JT could get barely a nibble. I'm not smart enough to figure out how NFL teams assign trade value.

But in fantasy, a starting RB always carries value. Just being the perceived starter in the offseason made some guys rise to the value of a 1st. Mattison was one of those guys given a magical 1st value. Not everyone had Mattison rated as a RB1, or even a T20RB (me for instance) but a lot of people were high on him.

If it comes to happen that Akers becomes the starter in Minny, isn't it reasonable to expect Akers' value to rise, just as Mattison's value rose in the offseason? Sure, there will be the Akers Haters, just as there are Mattison Doubters, but I think the middle-of-the-road fantasy manager will recognize that Akers as starting RB in Minny getting 65% of touches should be a good player to own. That is, if Akers can win the starting job after the brilliant start to the season by Mattison.

Anyone who doesn't think Akers will be given a chance to for significant touches in week 4 if Mattison has another disappointing week this week, can't be serious.

[willistylz1979]

Biggest question is where he ends up next year.
If he can supplant Mattison by Mid-Season do they sign Akers to a 2yr type contract? Will there be other teams interested in bringing in Akers as 1A/B?
What’s the details on the contract Mattison signed this past off-season.

[ericanadian]

Biggest question is where he ends up next year.
If he can supplant Mattison by Mid-Season do they sign Akers to a 2yr type contract? Will there be other teams interested in bringing in Akers as 1A/B?
What’s the details on the contract Mattison signed this past off-season.

Mattison has nearly $3M guaranteed for next year and with his signing bonus, cutting him will provide very little cap relief.

[Space Cowboy]

Ty Chandler hasn’t done much even going back to preseason so I’d say this is more on him than Mattison.