Minnesota Vikings Trade For A Running Back

In terms of player acquisitions, this week felt more like the offseason than the regular season. On Monday, the Minnesota Vikings signed guard Dalton Risner. Yesterday, the Vikings acquired running back Cam Akers in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams. It’s the sort of player acquisition activity that’s unusual as the team is preparing for a Week 3 game. A priority of the offseason was improving the efficiency of the run game. Through the first two games of the season the Vikings run game was been nothing close to efficient. Or productive. The run game must improve. The additions of Risner and Akers were done with that improvement in mind. 

I first became aware of Cam Akers as the running back that replaced Dalvin Cook at Florida State. He was very good in college and played his way into being a second round pick of the Los Angeles Rams in the 2020 NFL Draft. His time with the Rams was three-plus years of decent highs and low lows. Some of his best times came while Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell, offensive coordinator Wes Phillips, and quarterbacks coach Chris O’Hara were among the Rams offensive coaches. That included a solid rookie season and the remarkable recovery from a torn Achilles tendon at the start of the 2021 training camp. Only five months after that injury, Akers returned and helped the Rams progress to and win the Super Bowl. 

For whatever reason, the relationship between Akers and head coach Sean McVay soured last season. Not a lot went right for the Rams the year after winning the Super Bowl. From injuries to losses, little went right. Akers got so frustrated that he requested a trade after the Week 5 game and did not play over the next three weeks. There was a lot of frustration throughout the Rams organization. Most of it seemed focused on the situation with Akers. Perhaps for player and team, things ended well when Akers finished the season with three consecutive games of 100 yards rushing. 2023 was sure to be better for Akers and the Rams. It wasn’t and Cam Akers is now in Minnesota. 

Now what?

Alexander Mattison was re-signed in the offseason to be the Vikings top back. He probably still is. If nothing else, the addition of Akers gives the Vikings another running option. When things are working, he has the talent to be an elite back. Something like the one he followed at Florida State, Dalvin Cook. Akers is more explosive than Mattison. In the Vikings running back hierarchy, the addition probably hurts Ty Chandler more than Mattison. And Kene Nwangwu if he ever returns from the injury that sidelined him in training camp. 

Some argue that the additions of Dalton Risner and Cam Akers are moves that should’ve happened months ago. That’s definitely the case with Risner. Moves made, and not made, in the offseason are done with a whole lot of hope. The Vikings hoped that returning their five highly-drafted offensive linemen would improve the efficiency of the running game. They hoped that supplementing that offensive line with the blocking talents of tight end Josh Oliver would improve the efficiency of the running game. They hoped that Alexander Mattison would handle the lead running role. That’s a lot of hope. Perhaps too much hope. The offseason is all about hope. Through two games (both losses), the running game has been a significant problem. An injury to center Garrett Bradbury (after only seven snaps) hasn’t helped. Neither has the ankle injury that sidelined left tackle Christian Darrisaw for the Week 2 game. It’s expected that Risner will step into the starting lineup as soon as he’s ready. Whether that’s replacing Ezra Cleveland at left guard or Ed Ingram at right guard remains to be seen. At the very least, Akers will step right in as a change-of-pace back for Mattison. The hope is that both additions will be spectacular successes.