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RB Cam Akers, MIN (2 Viewers)

Free Agent RBs

Todd Gurley 27

Duke Johnson 28

T.J. Yeldon 28

Dion Lewis 31

Chris Thompson 31

LeSean McCoy 33

Adrian Peterson 36

Frank Gore 38

Alfred Morris 33

Tyler Ervin 28

DeAndre Washington 28

Le'Veon Bell 29

Senorise Perry 30

Kenjon Barner 32

Bryce Love 24

Ito Smith 26

D'Onta Foreman 25

Ryquell Armstead 25

Sewo Olonilua 24

T.J. Logan 27

Jeremy Cox 25

Craig Reynolds 25

B.J. Emmons 23

Jordan Chunn 26

Pete Guerriero 23

Paul Perkins 27

Rakeem Boyd 23
You’d have to take shady for the good omen he has been in recent years 

 
sad news. good luck to Akers, just walking normally from an Achilles' injury is hard enough. best wishes for a full recovery.

 
What are people paying to acquire Akers in dynasty right now?
Received this offer last night :

Dynasty 1QB, .5 ppr

Akers, Cam LAR RB

Year 2022 Round 2 Draft Pick 

for

Year 2021 Draft Pick 1.07

Initial thought : hard pass

Do I want a (generous) 75% Akers in 2022 or a 100% Waddle, D Williams, or possibly E Moore now?

 
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Has any RB ever come back from an Achilles and been close to what they were?  I can't think of any.
What RB in last few years suffered an achilles injury? We got Mack but we've not seen him. Foreman. The list is small and going back to far is pointless. Not saying you are arguing that Akers can't but those who do in fact argue he can't use that same line of what RB has ever come back and been close but I'm don't agree with the entire line of thinking.

More then anything we've seen plenty of WR's come back, and in a lot less then 13 months and show zero signs of having suffered an injury.

FWIW Doc Chao also thinks he'll be fine next season.

I do NOT own Akers in dynasty.

 
This injury is not only bad for 2021 but he could be affected permanently.  He may only be 80% of what he was.  This injury is worse than a Torn ACL. 


One of the free agents on that list was D'Onta Foreman who I think was a promising player before his Achilles injury.

I hope some day a NFL RB will recover from this injury and be good after it but it hasn't happened yet. It is a bigger deal than a ACL injury.


I would bet strongly on him never returning to even 80%


Has any RB ever come back from an Achilles and been close to what they were?  I can't think of any.
From personal experience an achilles injury is devastating.  It zaps you of your quickness.  I was never the same pickup basketball player after tearing my achilles when I was 40.  I am sure my rehab and doctors were just as good as what Akers will be getting so if my recovery was any indication he won't even be 40% of what he once was.  I have never been able to get back to my pre-injury form.  I mean I was able to get to within 18-20" of the rim and my first step was lethal against 50 yr olds in the pickup game.  Now I am lucky if I can get as close as 24" to the rim and now just have to settle for 3 pt shots as I can't even get by 55 yr olds now.  It's just heartbreaking.  It really derailed my career.

All kidding aside, it is a devastating injury with a long recovery time.  I had a complete tear with a 5 cm gap in the tendon.  I was in a cast for 12 weeks with no weight bearing for that entire time.  I basically had to learn how to walk again on the leg once the cast came off.  My balance and strength were completely gone and it took a long time before I had any push off strength for running.  It's still not the same and that was 8 yrs ago.  Granted I am not an elite athlete and was 40 at the time of the injury but apples to apples my "explosiveness" is probably 60% of what it was.  You just don't have the same strength, feel, reaction that you once had.  It is a terrible injury to have for an athlete that relies on quickness, explosiveness, and acceleration.  

 
What are people paying to acquire Akers in dynasty right now?
His recovery can prove me wrong on someone else's team. I'd give a 3, but expect the Akers owner to correctly decline that offer so I won't be sending one. If they reach out to me that's what I'll say though.

 
From personal experience an achilles injury is devastating.  It zaps you of your quickness.  I was never the same pickup basketball player after tearing my achilles when I was 40.  I am sure my rehab and doctors were just as good as what Akers will be getting so if my recovery was any indication he won't even be 40% of what he once was.  I have never been able to get back to my pre-injury form.  I mean I was able to get to within 18-20" of the rim and my first step was lethal against 50 yr olds in the pickup game.  Now I am lucky if I can get as close as 24" to the rim and now just have to settle for 3 pt shots as I can't even get by 55 yr olds now.  It's just heartbreaking.  It really derailed my career.

All kidding aside, it is a devastating injury with a long recovery time.  I had a complete tear with a 5 cm gap in the tendon.  I was in a cast for 12 weeks with no weight bearing for that entire time.  I basically had to learn how to walk again on the leg once the cast came off.  My balance and strength were completely gone and it took a long time before I had any push off strength for running.  It's still not the same and that was 8 yrs ago.  Granted I am not an elite athlete and was 40 at the time of the injury but apples to apples my "explosiveness" is probably 60% of what it was.  You just don't have the same strength, feel, reaction that you once had.  It is a terrible injury to have for an athlete that relies on quickness, explosiveness, and acceleration.  
I appreciate your sense of humor about this Gally. Laughter is healing.

 
Has any RB ever come back from an Achilles and been close to what they were?  I can't think of any.
I brought this up in the other thread but has a barely 22 year old RB and as talented as Akers torn his achilles before?  Typcially it's older guys in the twilight of their careers.  

 
I brought this up in the other thread but has a barely 22 year old RB and as talented as Akers torn his achilles before?  Typcially it's older guys in the twilight of their careers.  
Mikel Leshoure and D'onta Foreman are the obvious comps. Things didn't go well for them although we don't really know what their career trajectories would have been since they (like Akers) were hurt before they got full NFL seasons worth of a workload. 

 
This info is demoralizing. Looks like he has less than 10% chance of becoming relevant again, maybe less than 5%. Though he's more high profile than pretty much everyone listed so maybe he'll get more of a legit shot. 

 
The player to watch will be Marlon Mack. If he looks like he's come back into form, it could be a sign that medicine has improved enough where we can expect Akers to make a full recovery. 

 
D’onta Foreman didn’t look bad after healing, although not the same caliber of player.
Not so sure about that. He ruptured his achilles his rookie year (2017). He played in one game in 2018, carrying the ball 7 times for -1 yards. He didn't play in 2019. He played in 6 games in 2020 where he had 22 caries for 93 yards. 

 
tangfoot said:
This is a fallacy.

There's plenty of RBs with this injury at age 25 or younger, and the list is ugly.

https://twitter.com/Kyle_FFRecon/status/1372302909304627200
That Twitter post is wrong on multiple data points, not too mention missing a lot of context.

Ryan Williams tore his patella tendon, not Achilles. Kendall Hunter was a 4th rounder drafted to backup Frank Gore in his prime, he also tore his ACL less than 2 years later after his Achilles. Ballard tore his ACL in 2013 and then tore his Achilles in 2014, he had 1 touch the year prior to his Achilles. Beanie Wells had a bad turf toe injury in 2012 and only had 88 carries at 2.7ypc that year, got released, and tore his Achilles in a try-out for Baltimore after the season had already started. Branden Oliver was an UDFA replaced by Gordon and had only 33 touches as a backup the year before he tore his Achilles. Foster was 29 and already hadn’t been able to stay healthy for multiple seasons. Crow tore his Achilles in 2019 not 2018 after having already been cut by the Jets one year into a 3 year contract and having 164 touches as a Jet, not 234 which was the Browns the year prior.

That leaves us our already mentioned guys: Leshoure who tore his Achilles as a rookie and put up 3.7ypc on 215 carries for the 4-12 Lions a year later. Then got busted for multiple pot arrests, sucked and lost his job to FA Reggie Bush and even the #2 job to Joique Bell. Foreman was a promising 3rd round backup to Lamar Miller and tore his Achilles late in his rookie season. He supposedly was coming back but then got cut by crazy Bill O’Brien in preseason a year and a half later for “poor work ethic.” He’s bounced around as a backup after sitting out a year after a torn bicep in Indy and is now a Titan. And Marlin Mack remains to be seen but appears to have already lost his starting job to Taylor anyway.

 
osubuckeyeman said:
Medical red flag for me. I would not pay anything. 
I agree with this. Marlon Mack will attempt an Achilles comeback this season. No one else has come close to their previous fantasy value after suffering this type of injury. Wish him the best, but a low 2nd is top value in a dynasty trade, imo.

 
Ilov80s said:
Not so sure about that. He ruptured his achilles his rookie year (2017). He played in one game in 2018, carrying the ball 7 times for -1 yards. He didn't play in 2019. He played in 6 games in 2020 where he had 22 caries for 93 yards. 
Not sure what happened to him but I remember Waldman touching on him being back on the field as someone to monitor and just off stats he appeared to be productive with his carries. Not a great example but the most recent I could think of.

 
Not sure what happened to him but I remember Waldman touching on him being back on the field as someone to monitor and just off stats he appeared to be productive with his carries. Not a great example but the most recent I could think of.
Yeah, he did make it back eventually. Took a few years sadly. 

 
menobrown said:
What RB in last few years suffered an achilles injury? We got Mack but we've not seen him. Foreman. The list is small and going back to far is pointless. Not saying you are arguing that Akers can't but those who do in fact argue he can't use that same line of what RB has ever come back and been close but I'm don't agree with the entire line of thinking.

More then anything we've seen plenty of WR's come back, and in a lot less then 13 months and show zero signs of having suffered an injury.

FWIW Doc Chao also thinks he'll be fine next season.

I do NOT own Akers in dynasty.
Tell me what Doc Chao has called correctly

 
Tell me what Doc Chao has called correctly
Been playing fantasy football for a long time and he's the best source of injury information and I've ever had and it's not even close. Add to that he is of course a former team doctor and an orthopedic surgeon but rando guy on a fantasy message boards knows more. Got it.

 
Been playing fantasy football for a long time and he's the best source of injury information and I've ever had and it's not even close. Add to that he is of course a former team doctor and an orthopedic surgeon but rando guy on a fantasy message boards knows more. Got it.
aggressive.  He asked for some examples of his accuracy for his medical opinion...he didn't call your grandma a slut.

 
Been playing fantasy football for a long time and he's the best source of injury information and I've ever had and it's not even close. Add to that he is of course a former team doctor and an orthopedic surgeon but rando guy on a fantasy message boards knows more. Got it.
If he’s the best and not even close then I’m sure you can come up with examples. 

 
oukurt said:
Received this offer last night :

Dynasty 1QB, .5 ppr

Akers, Cam LAR RB

Year 2022 Round 2 Draft Pick 

for

Year 2021 Draft Pick 1.07

Initial thought : hard pass

Do I want a (generous) 75% Akers in 2022 or a 100% Waddle, D Williams, or possibly E Moore now?
I'd probably offer to make the 2nd a 3rd and see if he goes for it.

 
If he’s the best and not even close then I’m sure you can come up with examples. 
I could go to his site and list stuff all day. He's not perfect but he does hit a high amount of stuff. I don't know his past history on specifics of achilles to RB's but he was very positive on Sanders and in the NBA on Kevin Durant making full returns after achilles. You want an exact example of a RB I don't know, that's part of the problem with the way I think people are analyzing this injury, we don't have a lot of recent examples.

 
I could go to his site and list stuff all day. He's not perfect but he does hit a high amount of stuff. I don't know his past history on specifics of achilles to RB's but he was very positive on Sanders and in the NBA on Kevin Durant making full returns after achilles. You want an exact example of a RB I don't know, that's part of the problem with the way I think people are analyzing this injury, we don't have a lot of recent examples.
You could but you haven’t. Odd considering your stance, his take and the extreme severity of the injury. 

 
Tell me what Doc Chao has called correctly
He’s got a great track record of diagnosing injuries via video. 

He’s also arguably a discredited doctor and I don’t know if he still has a license to practice, but that’s primarily due to outsider issues (DUI, etc)

 
He’s got a great track record of diagnosing injuries via video. 

He’s also arguably a discredited doctor and I don’t know if he still has a license to practice, but that’s primarily due to outsider issues (DUI, etc)
Tell me what Doc Chao has called correctly. 

 
Gally said:
All kidding aside, it is a devastating injury with a long recovery time.  I had a complete tear with a 5 cm gap in the tendon.  I was in a cast for 12 weeks with no weight bearing for that entire time.  I basically had to learn how to walk again on the leg once the cast came off.  My balance and strength were completely gone and it took a long time before I had any push off strength for running.  It's still not the same and that was 8 yrs ago.  Granted I am not an elite athlete and was 40 at the time of the injury but apples to apples my "explosiveness" is probably 60% of what it was.  You just don't have the same strength, feel, reaction that you once had.  It is a terrible injury to have for an athlete that relies on quickness, explosiveness, and acceleration.  
Brutal.  Thanks for sharing.

 
Yeah, he did make it back eventually. Took a few years sadly. 
He rehab’d the full next 2017 season (tore his Achilles late in his rookie year) but then was cut by Bill O’Brien the following preseason of 2018 supposedly for “poor work ethic.” Given what we know of Bill O’Brien now, who knows what to make of that. Foreman landed on Indy on the practice squad I believe, first game he got called up he got only a handful of carries and he tore his bicep and then was placed on season ending IR. He took 2019 completely off (no idea why, just what I read) and landed as a backup to Henry in Tennessee for 2020. Likely due to so many former Texans coaches being in TENN so they were familiar with him.

 
I wish you guys would stop posting in here and let this thread fade off of page 1.  

I don't want to see his name anymore.  It's too depressing.

 
Tell me what Doc Chao has called correctly
"Fine next year" seems really optimistic, so I went looking for his take on Akers on his Twitter feed, and came across this beauty:

OUCH

There's usually a guy in the group watching the game, who always announces upon replay of the injury:

"Oh, bro, he's Done For the Year"  

Maybe he's on your league WhatsApp chat.  Sitting next to you at the bar. On the couch next to you. 

It should NOT be the Twitter resource who is my final word on injuries. That tweet above is really the concern I have with Chao. He is in now the business of commenting on injuries. There's a podcast, appearances on radio and TV shows, he's out there hustling, carving out his own little micro-business, his niche.  

So the concern is: will he make statements that might garner more interest, and potentially grow his brand, making him more money, versus making a statement that he might be more confident in, but might be less interesting? 

The pinned tweet for Dr. Chao is a behind the scenes video from the #ProFootballDoc Command Center. Um, tap the brakes there, Wolf Blitzer.  

I cannot speculate on his motives, but I can wonder. I really have no idea how correct or incorrect he has been, and I will read what he has to say. I am wary of him, and if I am looking up info on Akers recovery timetable, I am not stopping at Dr. Chao. Why would you?  

I didn't see anything from Chao about Akers next year, aside from a video clip that really said little about recovery. I assume he said it on a podcast or Sirius or something.  

 
Has any RB ever come back from an Achilles and been close to what they were?  I can't think of any.
https://twitter.com/Kyle_FFRecon/status/1372302909304627200

-11 total since 2010

-2 returned to play the following season (Hunter, Oliver)
-6 never saw an NFL touch again
-6 had 196+ touch season prior to tear
-0 had>85 touches in comeback year
That first line is staggering. This is very much a possible two year injury. 

Even leaving aside recovery odds, whenever Akers comes back, the RB room will look different, and who knows what kind of talent gets added?  The Rams have a season, next year's draft, and next year's free agency before they really have any idea what kind of back Akers will be. Akers could come back to be a good back next year, but maybe now there's a Kareem Hunt-type in town.  

As an Akers owner, you cannot assume he'll slide back into the same role.  

https://twitter.com/ETurnerFF_PT/status/1417655459549368323

Went back and found a Lions forum post Mikel Leshoure injury in 2012. Lmk if any of these quotes look familiar.
Sobering

 
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Tough break for some Contract Dynasty players, for sure. Our League uses Years, only, not Salary $$$, so it's simpler, but for our Akers Owner, the ramifications are pretty harsh. High draft capital (2020 1.05), and he placed a 5-year Contract on Akers. 50 Year Cap for 20 Players (14 Team League). Putting him on IR doesn't alleviate the Years, it only creates a Roster opening. If he cuts him, he gets charged for the whatever the Contract is the year he's cut (they become Dead Years), then X-1 the following year, then it's washed. Unless he retires, or dies, while on the Roster, in which case the contract is eliminated, immediately. Injuries suck. Ones like these, to high-value Players, really suck.

 
Tough break for some Contract Dynasty players, for sure. Our League uses Years, only, not Salary $$$, so it's simpler, but for our Akers Owner, the ramifications are pretty harsh. High draft capital (2020 1.05), and he placed a 5-year Contract on Akers. 50 Year Cap for 20 Players (14 Team League). Putting him on IR doesn't alleviate the Years, it only creates a Roster opening. If he cuts him, he gets charged for the whatever the Contract is the year he's cut (they become Dead Years), then X-1 the following year, then it's washed. Unless he retires, or dies, while on the Roster, in which case the contract is eliminated, immediately. Injuries suck. Ones like these, to high-value Players, really suck.
Trade him for a future 4th round pick becomes a viable option here.

 
Not to hijack the discussion about medical crystal balling, but does anyone know when NFL teams assign a player to IR in cases where the injury occurs before camp?  My leagues do not allow placing a player on IR until MFL displays him on IR, so I'm sitting (along with all you other disheartened owners) on Akers as a roster clogger, until such time as all this happens.  I don't remember, or haven't paid attention, to a season ending injury for a skill position player before camp starts in the past.  Anyone know what sort of timeline we might expect on the IR designation?

 
Not to hijack the discussion about medical crystal balling, but does anyone know when NFL teams assign a player to IR in cases where the injury occurs before camp?  My leagues do not allow placing a player on IR until MFL displays him on IR, so I'm sitting (along with all you other disheartened owners) on Akers as a roster clogger, until such time as all this happens.  I don't remember, or haven't paid attention, to a season ending injury for a skill position player before camp starts in the past.  Anyone know what sort of timeline we might expect on the IR designation?
IIRC, if a player goes on IR before Week 1, he is subject to waivers and is also ineligible to be an IR-designated for return spot. I doubt the second part really applies here. 

For the Rams to fully protect Akers, they would need to have him on their official regular season roster to start the season and then move him to injured reserve (freeing up a spot for another player).

Technically, if the Rams wanted to try to get Akers on IR right now, they would have to release him with an injury designation and have him clear waivers and then he would revert to their IR list if they wanted to put him there.

Maybe they are not that considered that another team would put in a waiver claim for him, in which case they may try to get him on IR sooner rather than later.

HERE is an article covering this same type of situation for Curtis Weaver from last year.

 

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